Issue - meetings

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability presented the Parking Strategy following a public consultation and engagement over five weeks in autumn 2024. He said that the consultation was open to all residents and 1700 responses were received.

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability clarified that the strategy was the only recommendation that was to be considered by Council and the parking tariff increases were approved by the Executive at their last meeting. He said that support of the parking strategy was independent of parking charges.

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability said that the Council had approved a £1.75 million income target for parking in February 2024 and the parking strategy set the context and principle of the changes to support the income targets and ambitions of the Council. He said that the strategy was designed to ensure that the council effectively managed its parking whilst managing the challenges of growth. The council aimed to discourage non-essential car journeys and use active travel for short trips.

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability said that there was a strong focus on resident and business engagement early on in the process and the consultation responses could be found in Appendix A. Pricing had been used to motivate behaviour change and the strategy had 22 actions based on short, medium, and long term.

Councillor Hoskin proposed that the recommendation in the report be supported. Councillor Wilson seconded the proposal.

Councillor Buckmaster said that he would be voting against the proposal because he said there was a strong move within it to get rid of free parking periods. He felt that smaller towns and villages were being treated differently and following the discussion at the Executive, Sawbridgeworth had kept its free period because of a technicality. He felt that if the strategy took away free weekend parking, then cars would park on street and cause further problems.

Councillor Parsad-Wyatt said there were some important actions in the strategy such as electric vehicle charging points and a move to paperless ticketing. He said however that he would have to vote against the strategy as he was not comfortable with the suggestions in the document. He was concerned that emissions-based pricing would affect the poorest.

Councillor Deering said he echoed the comments of his colleagues. He said there were some actions in the strategy, like reducing emissions, that everyone could be supportive of. However, he felt that emissions-based pricing would discriminate against those who could not afford new cars. He added that residents and business owners did not feel their views had been listened to and he confirmed that the Conservative group would not be supporting the strategy.

Councillor Thomas said that the signs in the East Herts operated car parks were cluttered and could be confusing for visitors. He added that the poorest people in the community did not own cars and have to rely on public transport so the emissions-based pricing would not affect them.

Councillor Watson said that residents in Ware were pleased  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9

Consider the comments put forward by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, listed in Appendix F, and endorse the resulting actions proposed by the Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability as also detailed in Appendix F

Support the proposed changes to car parking tariffs as described in Appendix D from April 2025 and recommend them to the Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability for approval and implementation

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability presented the draft Parking Strategy following a public consultation held in autumn 2024. He said that Council had agreed a £1.75million income target for parking in February 2024 and the strategy set out the strategic context and principles to meet the approved income target and the wider ambitions of the Council. 

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability said that as a listening council, the resident and business engagement had been extensive and 1700 responses had been submitted online and at the in person sessions. He said the strategy aimed to support alternative methods of transport, be balanced and make fairer changes and be environmentally considerate.

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability said that 22 actions had been set in place for the short medium and long term with an altering price structure and abolish paper permits. He hoped the strategy would have an enduring legacy and be a direct deliverer of change. The strategy had been presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in January 2025 and their comments were attached at Appendix F.

Councillor Hoskin proposed that the recommendations in the report be supported. Councillor Glover-Ward seconded the proposal.

Councillor Crystall said that this was a great document and thanked the parking team and the Head of Operations for their hard work in producing it.

Councillor Dumont said that he could not support the recommendations in the report. He said that as a Liberal Democrat, he had a strong commitment to fairness and the car park in Stanstead Abbotts had been previously subsidised by a private donation and as this had now ended, people of the village were now being asked to pay for parking. He felt that this was unfair when similar car parks in Sawbridgeworth and Buntingford did not have to pay for weekend parking. He said that when he voted previously on this, he was told that car parks operating under different rules would be temporary, but the report showed that parking charges were not aligned.

Councillor Goldspink said she agreed with Councillor Dumont and also would not be voting for the recommendations. She said she was in support of the parking strategy overall but could not support once of the charges proposed for Sunday parking in Stanstead Abbotts. She said fairness had not been achieved across all car parks and felt it was within the power of the Executive Member to make this charge nil.

Councillor Wilson said that he had enjoyed talking to residents regarding the parking strategy and had heard a lot of views. He said he would be voting alongside the Liberal Democrats and that there was an unfairness in the mismatch of charges on a Sunday. 

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability thanked the councillors for their comments. He said that this was a staged process with short, medium and long term time frames to structural changes subject to Traffic Regulation Orders. He said he had tried to address fairness throughout the process and the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 331

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability submitted a report that presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee the draft version of the Parking Strategy for East Hertfordshire following public consultation and engagement.

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability said that this draft version of the strategy document was one that he would like to see challenged and thought through following the public consultation and engagement. He detailed the recommendations and set out the background to the report in terms of the East Herts corporate plan and the climate emergency.

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability said that in February 2024, Council had approved a £1.75m income target for parking for the financial years 2025/26 through to 2027/28 and this document set the strategic context and principles by which changes might be approved to support the achievement of income and the wider ambitions of the council.

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability set out the process that had led to the development of the strategy and said that there had been just over 1,700 responses in autumn 2024. The Executive Member set out the three strategic aims of the parking strategy which were linked back to the corporate plan and the other associated strategies detailed on page 6 of the report.

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability said that in a number of areas pricing had been used as a behavioural change tool and the strategic aims had guided the three key objectives which had determined the actions for delivery. He said that the three objectives for delivery actions were alternative, balanced, and considerate. He summarised these objectives and said that there were 22 actions that underpinned these objectives and they fell into short, medium, and long-term categories.

The Executive Member for Environmental Sustainability said that to be successful in delivering these actions, the council recognised that it could not be the direct deliverer of change in all instances and could not operate alone. Members were advised that the council must work with partners to maximise its impact, and to this end the Executive Member set out the roles that the council would adopt. He invited Members to debate the 2025 draft parking strategy.

Councillor Buckmaster said that he had read through the sentiments around behaviour change and acknowledged that it was generally difficult to achieve. He said that he could see some of the thinking around some of the movement of people, for example to Northgate End. He acknowledged that this would potentially free up assets for sale.

Councillor Buckmaster referred to Sawbridgeworth and the change from long term to short term would lead to an increase of up to 55% on charges for people parking for 1 to 2 hours, which was a large jump. He talked about a reduction in long term commuter parking, and also touched upon the difficulties of balancing considerations. He referred to a resident having to drive to a GP appointment and paying a lot more than they were used to.

Councillor Boylan referred  ...  view the full minutes text for item 290