Agenda item

This report presents findings and recommendations of an external Parking Service Review and annual review of the Council’s car park fees.

[30 Minutes]

 

[Councillors Wallsgrove, Worne and Blanchard-Cooper re-declared their Personal Interests in this Item]

 

          Upon the invitation of the Chair, the Group Head of Technical Services presented the report. The Off-Street Parking Strategy 2021-2026 set out that the Council would review the charges annually. Last year the Committee agreed to commission an independent review of the Council’s parking service arrangements. Parking Matters were appointed and undertook that review, the recommendations of which were presented to Members at a briefing in October, where Members had the opportunity to ask questions to the consultants. Parking Matters’ findings had informed the proposed revisions to the tariffs and tariff structures set out in the recommendations to Committee. He updated Members that recommendation F referred to section 4.20, not 4.17 as stated in the report. He then went onto explain the recommendations to Members.

 

          The Chair felt it would be appropriate to vote on each of the recommendations separately. This was proposed by Councillor Worne and seconded by Councillor Bower, and upon taking the vote, APPROVED by Committee.

 

          The recommendations were proposed by Councillor Worne and seconded by Councillor Wallsgrove.

 

          The Chair then invited debate and Councillor Madeley proposed an amendment to recommendation J as follows (additions shown in bold):

 

j. Considers not introducing charges for the Shrubbs Field, Links Avenue and Grassmere car parks for the remainder of the political cycle i.e. not before May 2027

 

This amendment was seconded by Councillor Greenway, who hoped people would support it.

 

          Upon returning to the proposer, Councillor Madeley hoped Members could support the amendment and felt very passionate about it. People should be encouraged into towns and villages, and Links Avenue and Grassmere car parks should remain free for the same reason that she felt Shrubbs Field should. Residents were not aware that parking machines may lead to charging, and she felt public consultation should be undertaken before this was considered.

 

          The Group Head of Technical Services explained that no decision had been taken that would lead to any charges in these car parks, and this amendment would confirm the position that these car parks would remain free of charge for the stated period.

 

          Upon taking the vote, this amendment was CARRIED.

 

          Returning to the debate on the substantive recommendations, one Member felt the extension of the hours of charging in Crown Yard car park from 8am – 6pm to 8am – 8pm should not be approved and asked whether this should be addressed by an amendment or voting against the Officer recommendation. Officers confirmed if Members did not agree with this recommendation they should vote against it. Other Members did not feel it would be fair to extend the hours of charging at Crown Yard car park, particularly as Arundel did not benefit from the 2 hour town centre free parking scheme.

 

          Concern was expressed by some Members around the possibility of reducing free parking for blue badge holders to three hours. It was felt this would cause stress to blue badge holders and that it was not the right time to introduce charging. It was suggested that this recommendation either be removed or increased to more than three hours.

 

          Some Members were concerned about the technology strategy (Appendix C), and the proposed move to cashless. The Group Head of Technical Services explained this was a direction of travel not defined by dates, but a monitoring exercise to see when the move would be acceptable. One Member stated that Members and Officers may take different views as to when this may become acceptable as it was subjective, so needed to be very carefully monitored. It was asked that Members be kept updated on this as the technology strategy was moving forward. The Group Head of Technical Services confirmed that he would ensure Members were kept updated regarding this.

 

          Concern was expressed around recommendation h(i), as there was free parking on the highway close to the West Park car park, and it was feared more people may park on the road. The Group Head of Technical Services explained that the recommended change to the structure of fees were designed to avoid exactly that effect.

 

          Members were not in support of delegating authority to the Group Head of Technical Services to increase or reduce the parking tariffs, and the view was expressed that Members’ responsibility was to make the tough decisions on behalf of the residents.

 

          One Member stated that the Parking Review was very useful, and they appreciated all the information and data being consolidated.

 

          Support was offered for recommendation d and the tariff structure as set out in Option B.

 

          Recommendation E was welcomed, and it was noted that this would actually reduce the charge for many stays within these car parks and make this a fairer structure.

 

          Support was offered for recommendation g, creating two tiers (resident and non-resident) of town centre and seasonal parking permits and to separate town centre and seasonal parking permits between Littlehampton and Bognor Regis, and it was thought previous discounts were too high.

 

          Members were in favour of the opportunity to explore the feasibility of using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR).

 

The Group Head of Technical Services reminded Members of the comments made by the Section 151 Officer in the report, that the Council faced a significant financial challenge in addressing its structural budget deficit and one of the strategies it must adopt was to maximize its revenue from fees and charges. Ultimately the proposals in this report would increase its revenue stream from car parking fees and help to protect the provision of other services. He highlighted that Members needed to be aware that if the proposals were not approved, it would reduce this Council’s ability to reduce its already sizeable structural budget deficit. Ultimately, this could result in service cuts and potential staff redundancies.

 

The Group Head of Technical Services suggested that Members consider making an amendment to recommendation f, to increase the amount of free parking for blue badge holders to 5 hours.

 

 

          Councillor Blanchard-Cooper proposed that an amendment be made to recommendation f as follows (additions shown in bold, deletions shown in strikethrough:

 

f. Agrees to introduce the option 3 changes to the Blue Badge parking policy as set out in section 4.17, with effect from 1 April 2025 Agrees to limit free parking for blue badge holders to 5 hours

 

This amendment was seconded by Councillor Worne, who suggested a change to it as follows:

 

f. Agrees to limit free parking for blue badge holders to 5 hours and for this to be reviewed in 12 months time.

 

The proposer of the amendment agreed to this addition, however after a short debate, the proposer, with the agreement of the seconder, withdrew the amendment.

 

The Committee Manager confirmed that approving the amended recommendation j would mean not introducing parking charges for the Shrubbs Field, Links Avenue and Grassmere car parks for the remainder of the political cycle, and if approved, the minutes would state that the Committee have agreed not to introduce such charges for this period.

 

 

A vote was then taken separately on each of the recommendations. Recommendation a, b, c, d, e, g, h(i), h (ii), j and k were APPROVED.

 

Recommendations f, h(iii) and i were NOT APPROVED as follows:

 

f.      Agrees to introduce the option 3 changes to the Blue Badge parking policy as set out in section 4.20, with effect from 1 April 2025 – NOT APPROVED

 

h.    Delegates to the Group Head of Technical Services to advertise, consider representation and determine the following proposed amendments to the Parking Order:

                                      i.     To extend the hours of charging in Crown Yard car park from 8am – 6pm to 8am – 8pm, with effect from 1 April 2025 - NOT APPROVED

 

i.      Delegates authority to the Group Head of Technical Services to either increase or reduce the parking tariffs in line with the Consumer Price Index +1%, with effect from 1 April annually, with all tariff increases to be rounded to 10p and £10 for permits. Any alternative proposals will be reported to the Committee for consideration - NOT APPROVED

 

 

 

The Committee

 

RESOLVED that

 

 

1.   The Technology Strategy (Appendix C) be agreed;

 

2.     The Parking Service Delivery Strategy (Appendix D) be agreed;

 

3.     The Parking Service Action Plan (Appendix E) be agreed;

 

4.    It agrees to introduce the parking fee option B with effect from 1 April 2025;

 

5.    It agrees to introduce the seasonal car park charging structure as set out in Appendix A with effect from 1 April 2025;

 

6.    It agrees to create two tiers (resident and non-resident) of town centre and seasonal parking permits and to separate town centre and seasonal parking permits between Littlehampton and Bognor Regis;

 

7.    Authority be delegated to the Group Head of Technical Services to advertise, consider representation and determine the following proposed amendments to the Parking Order:

 

                                     ii.     To agree the installation of a keypad to the machine located within West Park car park, with effect from 1 April 2025.

 

                                   iii.     To agree the charging structure as set out in Appendix A for West Park car park, with effect from 1 April 2025.

 

8.    It agrees not to introduce charges for the Shrubbs Field, Links Avenue and Grassmere car parks for the remainder of the political cycle i.e. not before May 2027; and

 

9.    It agrees to explore the feasibility of using Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) within the Council’s car parks, including by writing to government.