Agenda item

The Council, with partners, operate 2-hour parking schemes in Littlehampton and Bognor Regis to support town centre footfall. The current 2-hour parking schemes in Bognor Regis and Littlehampton town centres both expire in 2023. This report sets out proposals to continue 2-hour parking schemes in each town centre beyond 2023.

[Councillor Blanchard-Cooper re-declared his Personal Interest as a Member of Littlehampton Town Council during discussion of this item]

 

          Upon the invitation of the Chair, the Group Head of Technical Services introduced the report to Committee. He explained that there were currently two town centre 2 hour free parking schemes in operation in the District, which both expired at the end of 2023. The purpose of these parking schemes was to support footfall in the town centres of Littlehampton and Bognor Regis. Both schemes currently used a cardboard clock disc.

 

In Littlehampton Arun made available 3 car parks and forwent car parking revenue from those 349 parking spaces. Littlehampton Town Council made a contribution to Arun of £28500 per annum towards this loss of revenue. Littlehampton Traders Partnership Ltd had been contributing £6,600 per annum, however were to be dissolved as they had been unable to collect the contributions from traders and owed the Council £14000 in outstanding contributions. Approximately 30,000 discs were produced and distributed to retailers each year at a cost of £4,500 per annum. The discs were given free of charge to drivers.

 

In Bognor Regis Arun made available 3 car parks and forwent car parking revenue from those 605 parking spaces. Bognor Regis Town Council made a contribution to Arun of £21000 per annum towards this loss of revenue. Bognor Regis Business Improvement District (BID) contributed £5000. Around 25,000 discs were produced and distributed to retailers each year by the BID at a cost of around £35-40K per annum. The discs were sold by the BID to businesses for £1.60, and the discs were retailed at £2 equating to gross profit for retailing businesses in total of around £10000 per annum.

 

There were limitations of the current scheme, which included misuse as carboard discs were impractical to enforce.  Some clocks were moved forward once the initial 2 hour free period had expired leading to further lost revenue to Arun; The cardboard disc scheme provided the Council with no data on use of the scheme. This meant there was no data on how much these schemes cost the Council to operate. If each disc obtained by a driver each year was used for just 1 hour on one occasion, taking account of the contributions from partners, the schemes cost Arun £28K per annum. If each disc was used on average once per month for 1 hour, the schemes cost Arun £935,500 every year. This lack of cost information was clearly unsatisfactory.

 

The proposal within the report would address these limitations. It was proposed to continue to operate two, 2 hour free parking schemes in Bognor Regis and Littlehampton. Arun would operate these schemes by moving to a virtual permit using software and the MiPermit app it already used successfully for all other types of parking permits. Arun would sell cardboard discs alongside the virtual permit during 2024 as a transition year. If agreement could not be reached with Town Councils,  who, along with the BID were not in favour of the proposal (their responses had been circulated to the Committee) the purchase price would be £3 for an annual permit. It was recommended that a working group would be established to steer the transition to virtual only schemes from January 2025 to provide assurance that the needs of elderly drivers would be adequately met. It was also recommended that the Littlehampton Traders Partnership Ltd debt of £14000 be written off.

 

The Group Head of Technical Services concluded by explaining the proposed virtual permit scheme would lower operating costs; did not rely on contributions from or administration by other organisations; would stop the malpractice of moving the disc clocks forward; would provide detailed usage information which would inform the Council regarding costs of operating the scheme and allow Committee to make informed decisions in the future.

 

     The Chair invited questions or comments from Members. Councillor Stanley spoke on the Item explaining that he understood the aims of the report, and thanked Officers for this. However he was aware that both Littlehampton and Bognor Regis Town Councils, and also Bognor Regis BID had sent in strong representations, and he had concerns around the app only scheme. It was a delicate time for town centres and both Littlehampton and Bognor Regis town centres were in a state of flux. The disc scheme had provided a lifeline to the town centres through the pandemic and had supported residents during the cost of living crisis. Bognor Regis BID had raised valid points regarding the ability of the vulnerable and elderly to access and pay for the scheme if they were not able to pay by cash. He then proposed an amendment to the recommendations as follows (additions have been shown in bold and deletions in strikethrough):

 

2.1 That Committee delegate authority to the Group Head of Technical Services to  implement a further 2 hour free town centre virtual parking permit scheme administered by Arun District Council effective 1 January 2024 in Bognor Regis for 2 years and, to enter into and implement any further agreement with Bognor Regis Town Council and Bognor Regis BID, to make any necessary changes to Arun District Council’s Parking Orders and to take any other actions necessary to enable the scheme to take effect. The scheme will include virtual permits and cardboard discs in 2024 before moving to virtual permits only from 1 January 2025.This scheme will include virtual permits alongside the existing cardboard disc scheme.

 

2.2 That Committee delegate authority to the Group Head of Technical Services to  implement a further 2 hour free town centre virtual parking permit scheme administered by Arun District Council effective 1 January 2024 in Littlehampton for 2 years and, to enter into and implement any further agreement with Littlehampton Town Council and Littlehampton Traders, to make any necessary changes to Arun District Council’s Parking Orders and to take any other actions necessary to enable the scheme to take effect. The scheme will include virtual permits and cardboard discs in 2024 before moving to virtual permits only from 1 January 2025. This scheme will include virtual permits alongside a cardboard disc scheme with the same parameters as that operating in Bognor Regis.

                  

2.3 That Committee establishes a working party to comprehensively review the free parking scheme and report its recommendations to the Committee as soon as possible.  The membership of the working party shall be made up of the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Environment Committee plus three other Committee Members who are also not town councillors, two named representatives from each of Bognor Regis and Littlehampton Town Councils, a named representative of the Bognor Regis Business Improvement District and a named representative of Littlehampton Traders.  Only Arun District Council Councillors will have voting rights and substitutions are not permissible.

 

2.4 That Committee approves the write-off of the balance of £14,770 that remains due from the Littlehampton Traders Partnership Ltd in financial contributions to Arun District Council.

 

    

The amendment was seconded by Councillor Wiltshire.

 

Upon the invitation of the Chair, Members (and a non-Committee Member given permission to speak by the Committee, then took part in a debate which is summarised as follows:

·       Support was offered for the amendment. Any changes needed to be accessible, and it was felt the amendment would ensure this.

·       It was asked whether any adjustments to contributions had been made to reflect the fact that parts of St Martin’s car park had been unavailable due to the Public Realm Project and the Covid Centre. The Group Head of Technical Services confirmed that there had been no adjustments to the contributions as a consequence of the reduced amount of parking spaces available.

·       Further support was offered for the amendment.

·       It was stated that Arun were not necessarily loosing money from the disc scheme. People that were using this, may not visit the town centres and use the car parks if the scheme were not available.

·       It was suggested that Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) should be used, which it was felt would provide clear evidence to ensure the car parks were being managed successfully.

·       The Chair stated that the app would be user-friendly, and it would facilitate users paying for and adding additional time onto their parking allowance while they were out and about. The Group Head of Technical Services explained they would be able to monitor how often the virtual permit was used. He explained the use of the scheme would not be solely reliant on an app, and there would also be a telephone number users could ring.

·       It was felt other technological solutions should be investigated such as Vehicle Management Systems (VMS). The Group Head of Technical Services explained that a report would be coming to Committee in November proposing that a review be undertaken to identify technological solutions. This proposal had already been put to Committee last year.

·       It was felt the scheme needed to work for the whole District, and it was important that money was not solely spent in certain areas.

·       The purpose of the scheme was to keep the footfall in both town centres high, which it was felt should be the key motivation for the Committee going forward.

·       It was felt the report should have acknowledged and thanked the work of the partners facilitating the scheme.

·       Some Members looked forward to using the app, however it was agreed the disc system should continue at present. When this did change it should be communicated well to residents.

 

During the above debate, it was noted that it would not be possible for each of the Committee Members that would make up the Working Party to not also be Bognor Regis or Littlehampton Town Councillors, as the Working Party would need to be politically proportionate and too many Members of the Committee were also Members of those Town Councils. It was suggested this be removed from the amendment in 2.3. This was accepted by the proposer and seconder of the amendment. Amendment 2.3 was therefore altered to:

 

2.3 That Committee establishes a working party to comprehensively review the free parking scheme and report its recommendations to the Committee as soon as possible.  The membership of the working party shall be made up of the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Environment Committee plus three other Committee Members who are also not town councillors, two named representatives from each of Bognor Regis and Littlehampton Town Councils, a named representative of the Bognor Regis Business Improvement District and a named representative of Littlehampton Traders.  Only Arun District Council Councillors will have voting rights and substitutions are not permissible.

 

         

          Following a vote, the amendment was declared CARRIED.

 

         

          Following on from the previous amendment, the Director of Growth and Interim CEO suggested an additional amendment in the form of an additional recommendation, and asked that Members give consideration to proposing and seconding this as follows:

 

 

2.5 In 2024 the Bognor Regis BID be permitted to sell to the general public and distribute to businesses for resale at face value cardboard discs procured by Arun District Council.  All sales are to be accounted for and any excess income received over and above an agreed handling fee (as agreed in writing before any discs are distributed or sold by the Bognor Regis BID) shall be paid over to Arun District Council.  All unsold discs are to be returned to Arun District Council for accounting purposes.

 

     The Director of Growth and Interim CEO went on to say that this would help the Council to be as transparent as possible around the sums of money generated in relation to the disc system. He explained it only referred to Bognor Regis as the proposal was that at Littlehampton the disc would be provided by the Council rather than a third party. A question-and-answer session then took place as follows:

·       There was concern it would appear that Arun did not trust their partners to run the scheme. The Director of Growth and Interim CEO explained this suggestion was about being transparent, and all information provided would be beneficial.

·       It was asked why Littlehampton traders couldn’t continue to sell the discs. The Director of Growth and Interim CEO explained that the Littlehampton Traders Partnership Ltd were in a hiatus and were not in a position to deal with the financial element involved.

·       There was concern that Littlehampton would suffer if the discs were not available to purchase in Littlehampton. The Director of Growth and Interim CEO explained that following the amendment, Officers would need to look at how the discs would be distributed in Littlehampton, and whether there would be other options in addition to the Civic Centre.

·       Clarification was sought on the financial element of the production of discs and whether Bognor Regis BID would be required to hand back any unused discs to Arun. The Director of Growth and Interim CEO explained it was important that a handling fee be agreed with Bognor Regis BID, factoring in how much they were spending on the scheme in order that their costs be covered. The excess income would then be returned to Arun, alongside any unsold discs. The process should be transparent.

 

The suggested amendment of 2.5 was then proposed by Councillor Bower and seconded by Councillor Madeley. Debate on the amendment commenced as follows:

·       Clarification was sought on why this was necessary. The Director of Growth and Interim CEO explained it was about being transparent around the costs involved in making and distributing the discs and what happened to the excess income.

·       It was asked whether Bognor Regis BID already provided any such information. The Group Head of Technical Services explained that limited information was provided but this was not as comprehensive as suggested in the amendment.

·       It was stated that the surplus income was currently invested by Arun’s partners back into the town centres. The Director of Growth and Interim CEO explained that if excess income was being invested, it should be an explicit and conscious decision of the Council, not a by-product of the process.

·       It was suggested that the audit trail could be something for the Working Party to consider.

·       Clarification was sought on how Bognor Regis BID would be saving £5000. The Group Head of Technical Services explained that the proposal was for contributions from the Bognor Regis BID to cease, which would be a saving of £5000 for them.

·       What would happen if there was not a surplus from the scheme at all, and maybe even a deficit? The Director of Growth and Interim CEO explained he did not believe there would be a deficit, however full transparency would ensure Arun were aware of the figures.

·       If some discs were missing, would it be Bognor Regis BID or the shopkeepers that were accountable for this? The Director of Growth and Interim CEO explained there would be conversations with Bognor Regis BID to understand what had occurred, as in any audit when discrepancies were found.

 

The Chair suggested that the amendment be re-worded as she felt it was very rigid, and it was something the Working Party should be involved in. The following  wording was suggested:

 

2.5 Any Agreement between Arun District Council and Bognor Regis BID should have an audit trail as agreed by the two of them.

 

This wording was accepted by the proposer and seconder of the amendment. Following a vote, the amendment was declared CARRIED.

 

 

     For clarity, the Director of Growth and Interim CEO read out the substantive recommendations. He also explained that the Working Party would be politically proportionate, and the 5 Arun District Council Members from the Environment Committee would consist of 2 Conservative, 1 Labour, 1 Green Party and 1 Liberal Democrats Members. If Committee agreed the Chair and Vice-Chair formed part of the Working Party, the other Membership would be made up of 1 Labour and 2 Conservative Members, and would be agreed by Group Leaders.

 

Following the invitation of the Chair, a question and answer session on the substantive recommendations then took place as follows:

·       Recommendation 2.3 mentioned a named representative from Littlehampton traders to be included in the Working Party membership, but is was asked how this would work  if the Littlehampton Traders Partnership Ltd would no longer exist. The Director of Growth and Interim CEO explained the representative would be one of the Littlehampton traders, and Officers would seek to identify somebody happy to sit on the Working Party and represent the traders.

·       It was asked why the free parking on the app could only be used once per day. The Group Head of Technical Services explained the intention was to support visits to the town centres, but there should be a limit on the frequency this was used, just as there was for the duration.

·       Could users automatically renew on the app? Or would they have to manually renew each year? The Group Head of Technical Services confirmed that users could set their profile to auto-renew each year.

·       It was asked whether the wording of recommendation 2.1 removed the chance of a cardboard scheme continuing to operate from January 2024. The Director of Growth and Interim CEO explained that this would not be the case as in the last line of the recommendation it stated ‘This scheme will include virtual permits alongside the existing cardboard disc scheme’.

 

 

 

 

          The recommendations were proposed by Councillor Greenway and seconded by Councillor Stanley.

 

         

          The Committee

 

RESOLVED that

 

1      Authority be delegated to the Group Head of Technical Services to  implement a further 2 hour free town centre virtual parking permit scheme administered by Arun District Council effective 1 January 2024 in Bognor Regis and, to enter into and implement any further agreement with Bognor Regis Town Council and Bognor Regis Business Improvement District, to make any necessary changes to the Arun District Council’s Parking Orders and to take any other actions necessary to enable the scheme to take effect. This scheme will include virtual permits alongside the existing cardboard disc scheme.

 

2      Authority be delegated to the Group Head of Technical Services to  implement a further 2 hour free town centre virtual parking permit scheme administered by Arun District Council effective 1 January 2024 in Littlehampton and, to enter into and implement any further agreement with Littlehampton Town Council and Littlehampton Traders, to make any necessary changes to the Arun District Council’s Parking Orders and to take any other actions necessary to enable the scheme to take effect. This scheme will include virtual permits alongside a cardboard disc scheme with the same parameters as that operating in Bognor Regis.

                  

3      A Working Party be established to comprehensively review the free parking scheme and report its recommendations to the Committee as soon as possible.  The membership of the Working Party shall be made up of the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Environment Committee plus three other Committee Members, two named representatives from each of Bognor Regis and Littlehampton Town Councils, a named representative of the Bognor Regis Business Improvement District and a named representative of Littlehampton traders.  Only Arun District Council Councillors will have voting rights and substitutions are not permissible.

 

4      The write-off of the balance of £14,770, that remains due from the Littlehampton Traders Partnership Ltd in financial contributions to Arun District Council, be approved.

 

5      Any Agreement between Arun District Council and Bognor Regis BID should have an audit trail as agreed by the two of them.