Proposed residents’ parking zones announced

Release Date:  20-Nov-2008

New proposals are being outlined to tackle local parking pressures in two city centre areas; Brandon Hill (Clifton) and Kingsdown.

The proposals are tailor-made for each area in response to issues raised during the consultation, and include a firm commitment to further, detailed community engagement taking place.

This follows extensive consultation earlier in the year, with 53,000 households invited to comment on a 'test case' scheme and 13,000, or 25% responding.

Councillors on the Sustainable Development & Transport Scrutiny Commission will now have an opportunity on 24th November to comment on the outline proposals, as will the Cabinet on the 27th.

Cllr Mark Bradshaw, Executive Member for Sustainable Development, said: “We are putting residents and business concerns at the heart of these proposals. We have listened to the points raised and have made many significant changes in response.

“These outline measures are aimed to address local parking pressures, which have a negative impact on the daily quality of life for many people in our City.

After wide consultation, with 71 neighbourhood areas involved, we are proposing to shape more detailed measures, working with residents, the neighbourhood partnerships, local councillors and the business community.”

Kingsdown:

• This scheme includes approximately 1500 properties
• 51.1% of respondents in this area supported the introduction of the proposed 24/7 scheme
• The proposed operating hours are 9am – 5pm Monday-Friday.
• 34% of respondents experienced problems parking all day every day, whilst a separate 39% experienced problems parking during weekday daytimes.

This indicates that much of the parking difficulties are caused by commuter parking, so a scheme that operates during working hours is appropriate.

Clifton (Brandon Hill):

• This area covers approximately 1700 properties.
• The proposed hours of operation are 8am – 9pm Monday to Saturday.
• 54.9% of respondents in this area supported the introduction of the proposed 24/7 scheme
• 46% of respondents said that they had problems parking all day every day. Of the other respondents, many people said that they experienced problems parking at the weekend, both during the daytime and in the evening. This reflects the nature of the area, with its vibrant evening and weekend economy.

Therefore, it seems appropriate to develop a residents’ parking scheme that operates into the evenings and on Saturdays. 9pm has been chosen as the finishing time because it will address evening parking problems whilst fitting in with enforcement patterns.

The overall scheme

Several changes have been made to the over-arching principles of the proposed scheme and these will apply to both areas. These overarching principles would also be likely to apply to any future schemes proposed for further neighbourhoods.

In response to the concerns raised during the consultation exercise, the following over-arching changes to the original proposal are recommended:

Advertised scheme	New scheme
1st permit cost £40	1st permit cost £30; this is equivalent to 9p per day
2nd permit cost £80	2nd permit cost £80
3rd permit cost £500	3rd permit cost £200
1st permit free of charge for lowest polluting vehicles	1st permit free of charge for lowest polluting vehicles and electric vehicles
Only stated initial permit costs	Permit costs to be held for the first 3 years of the scheme, after which a small increase will be made to cover costs of inflation. Open book accounting will be used so that income and expenditure can be clearly identified
Each Zone to contain 300-500 households	Each Zone to contain a minimum 1000 households
Each household is eligible for 100 visitors’ permits per year	Each household is eligible for 100 visitors’ permits per year
All visitors’ permits cost £1 each	The first 50 visitors’ permits will be free of charge; the second 50 will cost £1 each
Business permits will cost £100	Business permits will cost £100
Carers’ permits will be issued free of charge	Carers’ permits will be issued free of charge
Pay & display bays will be provided within each Zone	Pay & display bays will be provided within each Zone
Parking in Pay & Display bays to be free for the first 15 minutes	Parking in Pay & Display bays to be free for the first 15 minutes
Parking in Pay & Display bays to cost approx £1 per hour	After 6pm, a flat rate of £1 will be charged instead of an hourly rate
Junctions and crossing points will be protected by double yellow lines	Junctions and crossing points will be protected by double yellow lines
Driveways will be protected by double yellow lines	Residents to be given the choice of whether to have double yellow lines across their driveways or an indicative keep clear marking
Statutory disabled bays which could only be used by Blue Badge holders and are enforceable will be introduced	Statutory disabled bays which could only be used by Blue Badge holders and are enforceable will be introduced
Car Club spaces will be introduced where feasible	Car Club spaces will be introduced where feasible
Permit numbers may need to be restricted to 1 per household	Permit numbers may need to be restricted to 1 per household
Residents in low car ownership developments may not be eligible for permits	Residents in low car ownership developments may not be eligible for permits
A house in multiple occupation will be entitled to same number of permits as other houses	A house in multiple occupation will be entitled to same number of permits as other houses
A discount system will be drawn up to assist low income households	This has been addressed by reductions in cost of 1st permit and visitors’ permits; however, this will be kept under review.

There was a lot of public concern during the consultation exercise about the council being seen to ‘make money’ from residents’ parking. The aim of the scheme is to break even. However, in response to concerns it is proposed to adopt open book accounting so that the income from and expenditure on the residents’ parking scheme can be clearly identified. Should any surplus arise, it will, as required by law, be used to support other transport initiatives such as park & ride.

The schemes have been designed carefully to meet residents’ needs, based on survey responses. The survey informed residents about the principle of controlled parking, and gathered views to discover:

• what level of need there is in each neighbourhood
• what issues people would have with the implementation of a scheme for their neighbourhood.

For survey purposes, the distributed leaflets and other materials proposed a test case scheme operating 24 hours 7 days a week. Residents were asked to define:

• the level of need they perceived in their area
• their views on a 24 hour scheme
• the barriers which prevented them from supporting the scheme.

The aims were to establish:

• the level of support area by area as oppose to that across the entire consultation zone
• the potential level of flexibility on hours of operation, permit cost, etc.
• the possibility of further public engagement on tailor-made schemes for some neighbourhoods.

The consultation drew a response rate of 25 per cent with over 13000 returns. There were over 400 supporting letters, phone calls and e-mails to support, object or seek clarifications. Several exhibitions were held with officers present to assist residents and businesses with enquiries.

Author:  Kate Hartas

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