Agenda item

Laura Sleight, a Hertford resident had submitted a petition, comprising 2,011 signatures, as follows:

For years, Hertford residents who rely on council run car parks have faced a parking postcode lottery.  Some are issued residents’ permits for only £36 per year while others are forced to buy daily tickets costing up to £1,400 a year.

Now, East Herts Council wants to introduce evening charges (£1 from 4-10 pm, except all day tickets), costing residents and others up to £260 a year.

The changes are proposed for Hertford, Ware and Bishop’s Stortford and they’re due to launch a consultation in May to gather public views.  We need to act NOW!

Evening charges would be BAD for visitors, BAD for local businesses and even WORSE for residents.

If you care about the rights of local people in Hertfordshire, please sign the petition to show that we have a voice.

Sign below if you want East Herts Council to SCRAP evening car park charges and provide fair parking for all.

The Council considered the petition under its petitions scheme in accordance with the provisions of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009.

Laura Sleight highlighted the key concerns shared by residents who had signed the petition.  She stated their opposition to the idea of evening charges and did not believe that half an hour’s free parking would justify the impact on residents and the economy.

She also highlighted the unfairness on town centre residents who relied on car parks to deal with the difficulties of parking near to where they lived.  Some residents were permitted to purchase season tickets from £36 per year whilst others were forced to buy daily car park tickets costing up to £1,400 per year.  This not only discouraged town centre dwelling, it also contradicted the car parking policy of consistency in setting charges for similar services.

The petitioner also referred to the impact on the business community, including those who relied on daytime business, which suggested that the proposals would have a negative impact on the local economy.

The Executive Member for Economic Development responded by referring to the set of principles agreed by the Executive in 2012 for the car parking service.  These included the need for charging to be fair to all including council taxpayers and for the costs of car parks to be borne by users rather than the council taxpayer.  The current charging structure did not reflect these principles as evening users did not contribute.

The Executive Member indicated that, having taken note of all the comments that had been submitted in response to the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) advertisement, he would be recommending to his Executive colleagues, a withdrawal of the proposed evening charges beyond 6.30 pm, but that other elements of the charging proposals be implemented, so that daytime users could visit town centres for longer and for a lesser charge.

Finally, the Executive Member referred to further considerations in the pipeline and advised that Officers were looking at a number of issues that utilised new technology in areas, such as pay on exit and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR).

Various other Members spoke.  Councillor P Ruffles expressed partial support for the petition in respect of the costs on town centre dwellers, but hoped that the principle of user pays and evening charges would not be lost completely.  The Leader alluded to other work that was progressing and referred to the role of the emerging District Plan.  Councillor J Wing congratulated the Executive Member for taking a radical approach, but expressed concern with the impact of evening charges on volunteers in community groups.

The Chairman advised that the maximum permitted time for debating petitions had been reached and concluded the debate.  He thanked the petitioner for attending and advised that the TRO matter would be determined by the Executive, at its meeting on 5 August 2014.