Chichester District Council
Agenda item

Agenda item

Parking Proposals and Off-street Parking Charges

The Cabinet is requested to consider the agenda report and its appendices and make the following resolutionsas set out below:

 

1.    That the Cabinet approves the proposal as set out in 6.1 of this report to increase car parking charges, which subject to consultation responses, be implemented from 1 April 2020 for a two year period. 

2.    That the Director of Growth and Place be authorised to give appropriate notice of any revised charges or changes as set out within this report pursuant to the Off-street Parking Places (Consolidation) Order 2018 and the Road Traffic Act 1984. 

3.    That the Cabinet approves the consolidation of all Parking Orders since 2012 into one document. This document will further clarify the provision for electronic payments and the exemption from daily charges for Blue Badge holders (with the exception of Pay on Foot parking) which subject to consultation be implemented from 1 April 2020.

Decision:

RESOLVED

 

1.    That the proposal be approved as set out in 5.1 of this report to increase car parking charges with the additional amendment of a £2 per hour rate for both Little London and Baffins Lane car parks, which subject to consultation responses be implemented from 1 April 2020 for a two year period.

2.    That the Director of Growth and Place be authorised to give appropriate notice of any revised charges or changes as set out within this report pursuant to the Off-street Parking Places (Consolidation) Order 2018 and Road Traffic Act 1984.

3.    That the consolidation of all Parking Orders since 2012 into one document be approved. This document will further clarify the provision for electric payments and the exemption from daily charges for Blue Badge holders (with the exception of Pay on Foot parking) which subject to consultation be implemented from 1 April 2020.

Minutes:

Mrs Lintill explained that she would allow Mr Moss, Mr Plowman and Mrs Sharp to speak but reminded members that the report requests agreement to go out to consultation on car parking charges rather than agreement to make the changes to car parking charges.

 

Mr Bell then introduced the item. He drew attention to the first recommendation which should refer to section 5.1 of the report rather than section 6.1 of the report. He explained that changes are being proposed to some of the council’s car parks from 1 April 2020 in order to help balance demand for parking across the districts car parks. The proposals have been discussed by the Chichester District Council Parking Forum. Following a two year freeze on pay and display prices it is proposed that some charges will remain the same for a further two years whilst others would change as follows:

 

·         Free of charge evening charges to remain the same.

·         Parking to remain free all days and hours in Crossfield, Fernhurst, Sylvia Beaufoy in Petworth, Florence Park in Chichester and Selsey Marine and East Beach Selsey from 1November and 31 March each year.

·         Free of charge periods in the rural car parks in Midhurst, Petworth, Selsey and East Wittering to remain in place.

·         A 3% increase to pay and display tariffs in line with inflation.

·         Little London and Baffins Lane car parks in Chichester subject to a greater increase.

·         Discounted season tickets to be frozen for two years in the city.

·         Rural season tickets to be increased; £17.50 to £20 per month in Bosham and £15 to £17.50 per month for other rural car parks.

 

Mr Bell then proposed an amendment to the first recommendation to add the suggestion of a £2 per hour rate for both Little London and Baffins Lane car parks in Chichester to the consultation. By example an hour in Little London would cost £2 and three hours would cost £6. Mrs Taylor seconded the proposal.

 

Mrs Murphy explained that the consultation process would involve notices in all car parks, notices in the press and information on the council’s website. In addition officers will write to all key stakeholders. She explained that a two year period would be most effective for the facilitation and operation of the car parks. She drew attention to the agenda pack which details the options considered by the Chichester District Parking Forum as well as comparisons from other local authorities.

 

Mrs Murphy then explained the request to consolidate all the current Parking Orders in to one document as all changes since 2012 have been added to the Order as amendments. She confirmed that it is a legal requirement for the council to have a Parking Order. The Parking Order provides clarity to customers and is also used when considering appeals against Penalty Charge Notices.

 

Mrs Lintill then invited Mr Moss to the table following a request to speak on the item. Mr Moss raised concerns relating to the Chichester District Parking Forum meeting and the number of people missing from that meeting. He also explained that he felt that not all new members had been fully consulted in the process. He further explained reservations about the proposals and whether they provide enough of a progressive approach. He referenced the idea of incentive parking to encourage visitors to stay for longer. He confirmed that he supported the changes to car parks such as Little London but felt it could go further. He then suggested taking the proposals back for further work. 

 

Mrs Lintill then invited Mr Plowman to the table following a request to speak on the item. Mr Plowman referred to competition of other local shopping areas and the Chichester out of town shopping area which has free parking. He then explained the figures for footfall in Chichester high street and confirmed that compared with the UK average decrease 3% year on year Chichester has a year on year decrease of 19%. He asked the Cabinet to consider maintaining the prices for Chichester car parks in order not to discourage visitors. With regard to the evening economy he confirmed that the footfall in Chichester had increased by 24%. He then requested removing the evening charges for Chichester Festival Theatre and New Park car parks.

 

Mrs Lintill then invited Mrs Sharp to the table following a request to speak on the item. Mrs Sharp asked whether the Cabinet felt that the changes to car parking charges were enough to encourage people onto sustainable transport such as buses. She then asked whether a workplace parking levy could be considered.

 

With regard to the consultation Mrs Murphy clarified the timescales and explained that they currently enable officers to go out to consultation, bring back results to the Cabinet and then facilitate any amendments to signage and machines within the car parks. She emphasised that the timescales had been thought through to allow all required tasks to take place.

 

With regard to evening charges Mrs Murphy confirmed that two car parks charge Monday to Saturday for two hours between 6pm and 8pm. The proposal is not to extend the charges to other car parks. Mrs Murphy then explained that the principal is that the user pays for parking and the car park should therefore be able to cover its cost.

 

With regard to setting the charges Mrs Murphy confirmed that user patterns and behaviours are analysed.

 

In response to the suggestion of a workplace parking levy Mrs Murphy outlined how a number of reduced price parking season tickets are available which respond to feedback from local businesses. A park and ride scheme has been considered and continues to be run over the Christmas period. In the longer term the Parking Strategy is being reviewed.

 

With regard to the wider economic impact of parking charges Mrs Hotchkiss explained that the dwell time of visitors in the city’s car parks is on the increase. With regard to reducing car use in the city she outlined how there are opportunities around events where visitors could be encouraged via incentives to park in car parks further out of the city. This would not only reduce the congestion caused by the queues to get into the central car parks but could also mitigate against some of the environmental impact of queuing cars.

 

With regard to the attendance at the Chichester District Parking Forum Mrs Hotchkiss confirmed that there were business representatives from Chichester BID, Petworth and Selsey in addition to a number of representatives from local community groups, members and officers.

 

Mrs Hotchkiss explained that there are a number of initiatives to target the reduction in footfall in the city centre and to generally encourage more visitors to the high street.

 

Mrs Hotchkiss then reminded members that if there were to be significant changes to the proposals the council’s 5 Year Financial Strategy would be impacted.

 

Mr Bell then referred to the roadworks across the city centre over the last few weeks and whether that had any impact on visitor numbers.

 

Mrs Shepherd suggested that the appropriate forums for a number of the ideas raised would be as part of the upcoming review and setting of the council’s priorities and the upcoming review of the Parking Strategy.

 

Mr Briscoe noted the cost of running and maintaining car parks as there has already been a two year price freeze.

 

Mrs Graves noted her support of the consultation.

 

Mr Wilding requested clarification on whether the free period of parking would remain in Midhurst and Petworth. He suggested considering the impact on the Grange, Midhurst if it was not.

 

Mrs Lintill then invited Mr Oakley to the table. Mr Oakley as a West Sussex County (WSCC) Councillor confirmed that the roadworks on Spitafield Lane had commenced after the Goodwood events and would be finished prior to the main Christmas build up. With regards to the WSCC city wide parking management plan Mr Oakley confirmed that it would be out to consultation in the new year.

 

Mr Briscoe with reference to agenda item 10 drew attention to the fact that businesses had not included parking charges in their list of concerns.

 

Decision

 

The Cabinet then voted unanimously to make the resolutions below.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.    That the proposal be approved as set out in 5.1 of this report to increase car parking charges with the additional amendment of a £2 per hour rate for both Little London and Baffins Lane car parks, which subject to consultation responses be implemented from 1 April 2020 for a two year period.

2.    That the Director of Growth and Place be authorised to give appropriate notice of any revised charges or changes as set out within this report pursuant to the Off-street Parking Places (Consolidation) Order 2018 and Road Traffic Act 1984.

3.    That the consolidation of all Parking Orders since 2012 into one document be approved. This document will further clarify the provision for electric payments and the exemption from daily charges for Blue Badge holders (with the exception of Pay on Foot parking) which subject to consultation be implemented from 1 April 2020.

Supporting documents:

 

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