Agenda item

The Executive Member for Economic Development submitted a report to present policy proposals for off-street pay and display charges in 2014/15 and 2015/16, for consideration by Members when making recommendations to the Executive.

The Executive Member for Economic Development advised that the Parking and Transport Strategy focussed on promoting commerce and ensuring the availability of parking.  Members were advised that there was now an increased focus on what residents wanted to use car parks for.  The car parks were increasingly being used for evening activities.

Members were referred to Essential Reference Paper ‘B’ for the proposed new structure for pay and display charge tariffs.  Members were advised that there would be capital costs of implementing the new charging regime.  Essential Reference Paper ‘C’ contained a summary of the financial implications of the proposed changes.

In response to a query from Councillor K Warnell, Members were advised that the new regime included free parking for a half an hour period, an all day charge that went through to the end of the charging period at 22:00 in the evening and a flat rate fee of just £1 after 16:00 hours.  Councillor G Williamson referred to the identified £340,000 deficit should the new regime be approved.  He commented on whether this shortfall would have to be funded by Council taxpayers.

The Executive Member for Economic Development referred Members to Essential Reference Paper ‘F’.  He stated that Council taxpayers would not be funding the proposals as there was currently an overall £610,000 revenue surplus in the car parking budget which contributed to the general fund for managing Council services.

Councillor J Wing stated that he was supportive of the proposed changes as they answered many of the key criticisms he had of the previous proposals put to scrutiny in respect of 30 minutes of free parking in the evening.  He sought and was given clarification that the public would need to have a valid ticket displayed on their vehicles at all times including for the first free half hour.

Members enquired about the method by which parking would be monitored, asking about the use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR).  Members were advised that ANPR might be one of many options for the future management of the Council's car parks and that the proposal would require the display of a valid pay and display ticket using the Council's current system of operation.

The Head of Information, Parking and Customer Services advised that a full review of the options for the future management of car parks, including ANPR, was being progressed and was part of the Parking Service Plan.  Changes to the current management system would require investment and Members would receive reports recommending the best operational system and a cost and benefit analysis of alternatives, to enable selection of the most appropriate system.  Funding any investment would need to be considered against the Council's policy of the users of car parks paying for their use as opposed to the taxpayer at large.

The Executive Member for Economic Development responded to a query from Councillor J Wyllie in that he completely agreed that the Authority should publicise the fact that East Herts Council was funding the ticket rebate scheme run by Sainsburys in Jackson Square, Bishop’s Stortford.

Councillor K Warnell commented that the Bishop’s Stortford Car Parks were some distance from town centre shops and 30 minutes free parking was not sufficient time to walk to most shops, complete purchases then make it back to the car park.

In response to concerns from Councillor N Symonds in respect of a loss in car parking revenue and Council Tax increases, the Executive Member for Economic Development reminded Members that the strategic priorities fund would be utilised for the two year period to balance any shortfall  of car parking revenue resulting from the proposed changes.  Members were also reminded that there were no plans to increase Council Tax for the next 2 years.

Councillor M Pope referred to the operating hours of the residents’ permit parking schemes.  He commented on the costs of enforcement resulting from the proposed changes.  The Head of Information, Customer and Parking Services advised that the parking permit scheme hours could be revised by a Traffic Order Regulation (TRO), subject to funding approval, if it proved necessary and local residents agreed.  He also advised that a moderate level of funding was available for evening enforcement, which would be at a lesser scale than that normally conducted during daytime hours.

In response to a query from Councillor J Jones, the Head of Information, Customer and Parking Services advised that two Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) would be sufficient to promote the aim of enforcing compliance of evening parking across the District.  Civil Enforcement would cover the three towns on a roster basis .  It was also confirmed that some evening enforcement of trouble spots was undertaken currently.

The Leader stated that it was important to communicate with residents regarding the positive steps being taken by the Authority, such as funding the ticket rebate scheme overseen by Sainsburys in Jackson Square, Bishop’s Stortford and had absorbed the recent VAT increases without passing any costs onto the public.

The Chief Executive and Director of Customer Services commented that it was a complex and sometimes difficult paper.  Members were asked to fully satisfy themselves that they understood the open ended nature of the risks as set out in the report and the potential range as set out at section 2.3.6 of the report now submitted.

Following a show of hands, the joint meeting of Scrutiny Committees agreed by majority that the Executive be advised that the proposals for the parking pay and display charges policy should be supported as now detailed.

RESOLVED – that the Executive be advised that the proposals for the parking pay and display charges policy as detailed in the report submitted should be supported; and in particular:

(A)             the changes to pay and display charges detailed in paragraph 2.3 of the report submitted in Hertford, Ware and Bishop’s Stortford be supported;

(B)             the introduction of evening charges in Ware, Hertford and Bishop’s Stortford be supported as detailed in paragraph in 2.4 of the report submitted;

(C)             the option to add limited resources to enable evening enforcement in order to maintain current daytime enforcement levels across the District, as detailed in section 2.5 of the report submitted, be supported;

(D)             the one-off costs to achieve the changes detailed in section 2.6 of the report submitted, be supported; and

(E)             the funding arrangements detailed in section 3.1 of the report submitted, be supported.