Agenda item - Civil Parking Enforcement

Report No: CAB/FH/17/014

Portfolio Holder: David Bowman Lead Officers: Mark Walsh and Darren Dixon

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL: (22 February 2017)

That:-

1. The contents of Report No: CAB/FH/17/014 and the estimated financial impact of introducing Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) shown at Exempt Appendix A, be noted.

2. Suffolk County Council be supported in seeking the transfer of Civil Parking Enforcement powers to Forest Heath District Council.

3. An Agency Agreement be entered into with Suffolk County Council for the period 2019-2029 to undertake delegated Civil Parking Enforcement Powers across the District.

4. £10,000 be contributed towards the countywide set up costs for Civil Parking Enforcement.

5. Forest Heath District Council to meet the cost of operating Civil Parking Enforcement delivered by a shared West Suffolk service, subject to:

(i) the retention of all on-street parking income;

(ii) a Service Level Agreement with Suffolk County Council on the processing of new requests for restrictions and maintenance of lines and signs; and

(iii) assume delegated responsibility to this authority for on street pay and display tariff setting, and provision of on-street parking bays (subject to a Highway Authority pre-defined assessment).

6. The planned introduction of on-street charging in Newmarket High Street (as previously agreed by Cabinet 22 December 2015; Report No: CAB/FH/15/063) be noted and Suffolk County Council be requested to prioritise the development of this scheme at the earliest opportunity.

7. Subject to resident consultation, the introduction of an on-street Resident Permit Scheme in Newmarket, be approved.

8. The review of off-street parking tariffs and identify further opportunities for on-street charging by the end of 2017, be approved.

9. The use of reserves in the short term to offset the deficit to provide time to review full financial implications post implementation, be approved.

10. Delegated authority be given to the Assistant Director (Operations), in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Operations, to sign-off the final agreements relating to the introduction of Civil Parking Enforcement.

(Report No: CAB/FH/17/014)

Councillor David Bowman, Portfolio Holder for Operations and the Car Parks Manager, presented this report which sought approval for the transfer of Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) to the District Council under the operation of a West Suffolk service and the financial implications associated with that.

CPE was where local authorities took over the responsibility for ‘on street’ parking restrictions from the police. Suffolk hosted 6 out of 25 areas in England that were not currently designated as Civil Enforcement Areas, which mean that parking violations in these areas were still enforced by the police.

Previous discussions had indicated, as recently endorsed by the Suffolk Public Sector Leaders’ Group, a collective desire for a basic level of enforcement of on-street parking restrictions in Suffolk from the police to local authorities.

Subject to the consent of the Secretary of State for Transport, CPE could only be transferred to the County Council who may operate it directly or by delegation under an agency agreement with district and borough councils. Suffolk County Council (SCC) had already delegated CPT powers to Ipswich Borough Council and a similar form of delegation was preferred across Suffolk, with three operational teams patrolling the county. A West Suffolk service was proposed to cover St Edmundsbury and Forest Heath. Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils had approached the West Suffolk Councils to manager some of its off-street car parks on a full cost recovery basis and this was proposed as a recommendation.

The set-up costs for implementing the scheme across the county would be in the region of £1.13 million. This cost would be shared with £10,000 being sought from each of the six district and borough councils (excluding Ipswich Borough Council where CPE already existed) with Suffolk County Council and Suffolk Constabulary funding the remainder.

It had been estimated that the annual operating costs for Forest Heath District Council (FHDC) (including the employment of Civil Enforcement Offices, vehicles and back office function) was approximately £260,000. The income from Penalty Charge Notices must be used to offset the operating costs and the estimated annual income was approximately £100,000, thereby leaving an annual operating CPE deficit of £160,000 in the 2019/2020 financial year, although the deficit would be significantly reduced to £30,000 in 2020/21. The CPE account would operate at a deficit unless other income sources were agreed to off-set this loss. Therefore, the Cabinet were also being recommended to agree the following options to offset the deficit in the short term and mitigate against any delay to potential on-street income receipts:

· Review of off-street parking tariffs and identification of further opportunities for on-street charging by the end of 2017.

· The use of reserves in the short-term to off set the deficit that would provide time to review the full financial implications, post implementation.

CPE was unlikely to reach a cost neutral position based on the projected expenditure and estimated income from the issue of parking fines in FHDC. On-street income in other civil enforcement areas had been accepted as the preferred mechanism to ensure the viability of the CPE service and ensured no long term financial dependency from other Council funding streams. Currently on-street pay and display parking charging was only operated in Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich.

The Cabinet had previously approved, in principle, the introduction of Pay and Display charges on Newmarket High Street and had sought SCC to develop a scheme. This would potentially generate in excess of £100,000 per annum (subject to a detailed business case). The Cabinet were, therefore, also being recommended to request that SCC prioritised the development of this scheme at the earliest opportunity.

The Cabinet were also aware that further consultation on a Resident Parking Scheme would commence in Newmarket in the Spring of 2017. Should a scheme have widespread support by residents, the income from permit sales would fund the costs of enforcement and may generate further displacement of vehicles to the off-street car parks, contributing to the region of £30,000 per annum.

The Cabinet also considered the overall budgetary position summarised in Exempt Appendix A; proposed measures to mitigate financial risks; a summary of the necessary Agency Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding required to be put in place with SCC and Suffolk Constabulary respectively and the delegations required to be granted to enable the final agreements to be signed off to enable CPE to become fully operational by April 2019.

The Cabinet were pleased to see this coming forward, however, they did also express their wish to ensure that the issuing of Penalty Charge Notices was able to be sufficiently controlled by the Council.

Councillor Andy Drummond, Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture, also explained that Newmarket Town Council had recently agreed to appoint its own Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) and hoped that as part of this role, this Officer would be able to support FHDC with this.

Councillor Lance Stanbury, Portfolio for Planning and Growth, also requested that when undertaking the review of the off-street parking tariffs that consideration should be given to the possible introduction of ‘Pay-on-Foot’, rather than the current ‘Pay and Display’ tariff structure, along with a review of the current tariff banding.

With the vote being unanimous, it was

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL: (22 February 2017)