Item 9
BOROUGH OF POOLE
TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY GROUP – WEDNESDAY 16 JUNE 2004
REPORT OF HEAD OF TRANSPORTATION SERVICES
ON OLD TOWN AREA RESIDENTS PARKING SCHEME RESPONSE TO ADVERT
1. Purpose of the Report and Policy Context
1.1 To consider the changes to the existing parking restrictions in the Old Town Area Residents Parking Scheme.
2. Recommendations
It is recommended that:
i) The advertised Old Town Parking scheme restrictions be relaxed to allow 2 hours limited waiting, exempt for permit holders, between 8am – 6pm. Outside this period, the parking bays would be for resident and visitor permit holders only
ii) The current limit of 20 £1 daily visitor permits a year be increased to 50.
iii) The current permit holder only restrictions in East Quay Road, Taylors Buildings and Drake Road be retained.
iv) The additional spaces in Green Road and Skinner Street be introduced as advertised, with the exception of the additional spaces outside The Royal Oak/Gas Tavern public house.
v) The proposed restrictions in Vallis Close be relaxed to apply only between 8am-6pm seven days a week. The existing 2hr restrictions be removed from the public highway parking spaces in Vallis Close.
vi) Chapel Lane car park and Dear Hay Lane on street parking be considered for maximum stay 2 hours stay in 2005/06.
3. Background
3.1 On 15 April 2004 the Transportation Advisory Group considered a report attached as Appendix A on the response to the advertisement of proposed changes to the Old Town Residents Parking. The Group heard concerns about arrangements for carers and visitors and recommended that the Chairman/Vice-Chairman/Portfolio Holder meet with Ward Councillors to consider these issues further. 3.2 A small number of objections have been received since the previous meeting and these have been included in Appendix B to this report.
4. Permits
4.1 The following permits are already available:
Residents permits - £30pa. Extending the hours of operation of the scheme will likely increase the number of sales.
visitor permits - £1 a day, sold in blocks of 10, currently a maximum of 20 per year but this can be extended in suitable circumstances
Official carers - Doctors & nurses have been issued with permits
Unofficial carers - £30pa with a Registration No and "carer for address" displayed on the permit. To qualify, the carer needs a blue badge and a letter from a health professional
Small business permit - £50 per year applies throughout the Borough but subject to strict qualifying criteria
"builders" permit - £5 a day
Issues considered since last TAG
4.2 There were calls for residents to be allowed an annual visitor permit for any of their visitors, as already applies in the council flat car parks in this area. In these Council car parks the neighbouring flats overlook the car parks, so that it is unlikely that the permits would be regularly abused. Visitor permits for the on-street scheme, however, could be used in any of the roads and any abuses could go unnoticed for some time. Penalty Charge Notices could not be issued directly to any suspected abusers, instead these would have to be investigated and the permit would have to be recovered. Previous consultations have identified that residents are very worried about the issue of non-residents obtaining permits for the scheme - by providing annual permits with no obvious means of checking their validity, the Council would not be able to alleviate residents’ concerns.
4.3 Unofficial carer permits are currently only available for residents who have blue badges. While there will be many residents who need regular care visits, but do not qualify for blue badges, extending the system to include them would need another form of health assessment. The Council would not be in a position to assess a resident’s health or need for care and it would be very onerous to review these aspects on a regular basis. Very few other Authorities allow permits for unofficial carers. 4.4 The previous report recommended the introduction of a 50p overnight visitor permit. However detailed costings now indicate that production costs would actually exceed the charge in this instance and so it is suggested that this option should be abandoned.
5.0 Hours of Operation
5.1 The current restrictions of 2 hours limited waiting, with an exemption for permit holders, Monday – Friday, 8am – 6 pm, appear to have been sufficient to accommodate most residents’ needs since the scheme was first introduced. This scheme already protects residents from the largest external parking demand - town centre workers, and most town centre shoppers.
5.2 Changing the scheme by extending the hours of operation to 24 hours a day / 7 days a week will reduce the opportunities for non-residents to park, but will inevitably mean that residents and visitors will need to purchase more permits than they currently need. The previous consultations have indicated that residents are prepared to accept these inconveniences in order to keep non- residents out of the area at weekends and evenings. Ward Councillors have also expressed concern about evening and weekend parking from future developments in this area.
5.3 It is suggested that retaining the flexibility for visitors and carers to park for up to 2hrs between 8am – 6pm every day would reduce the need for another category of permit. Any visitor needing more than 2 hours could make use of the existing visitor permit arrangement. Parking is particularly heavy during the evening and overnight and the previous consultations have indicated that this is when residents would like the permit holder only restriction in the parking bays.
6.0 Enforcement
6.1 Enforcement is carried out at a lower frequency at night and at the weekend, with patrols undertaken on a pre-arranged basis but not directly contactable by the public. The introduction of the proposed restrictions applying 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, may lead to increased expectations from residents over enforcement at these times. The “permit holder only” restriction would allow immediate enforcement if a permit were not displayed, but it should be recognised that residents may resent having bought and displayed permits while other vehicles that do not have a permit appear to avoid penalties.
7.0 Financial Arrangements
7.1 The cost of these proposals, primarily in changes to the signage, would be approximately £10,000, and there is provision within this year’s revenue budget to cover this. It is anticipated that if the new scheme is implemented then there will be additional revenue raised from extra permit sales. JAMES T BRIGHT Head of Transportation Services
Appendix A – TAG report 15 April 2004 – PLEASE SEE 15TH APRIL MEETING Appendix B – Summary of Response to Advert
Background Papers - TAG161003T3H
Name and Telephone Number of Officer Contact: Stephen Dean (01202) 262071
TAG160604T3M APPENDIX B
OBJECTION No of Objections Old Town Area Petition (Non Residents) - Removes the free short stay shopper (Petition) 77 spaces from the Old Town Area Green Road Residents Petition - 1) No Allowance for visitors, 2) (Petition) 42 where will residents park, 3)Tradesmen will need permits All visitors would need to have a permit to park and elderly/infirm 38 residents rely on visitors Removes all the free parking from Town Centre 9 (From Commercial Properties) Clients should be able to park on the 10 road Should be an Annual Visitors Permit 3 Object to additional Bays in Skinner Street opposite The Gas 2 Tavern/Royal Oak public house Object to the additional Bays in Skinner Street near to the junction 2 with Lagland Street Disabled drivers abuse the parking exemptions they have, Cars park 1 on single yellow line and half on pavement causing an obstruction As a P/T worker would have to pay to park in the area which currently 1 do not have to Would not be able to afford to buy permits 1 Should have 2hr limit extended to Saturday and Sunday 1 Green Road car park should have marked bays, Emerson Road slip 1 road should have parking, spaces were removed when Emerson Road was resurfaced, mark up individual bays to stop indiscriminate parking and issue 1 free annual Visitors permit to each house. Work in Town Centre and am a Blue Badge Holder, where will be able 1 to park?
Vallis Close Pre Printed Letter -Objecting as 1) The proposal will reduce the 26 amount of Available parking in Vallis Close 2) The 24hr restrictions will be impossible to Police 3) Introducing restrictions in the off-street bays is against existing custom and practice 4) The original survey was flawed as residents were not aware their restrictions were part of the Old Town Scheme Support the introduction of 8am - 6pm restrictions around Vallis Close The planning was for one visitor space for three properties why is 4 there now a charge to park here? Support for restricting parking within the Close, however objecting to 3 restrictions within the visitors parking areas Not objecting to restrictions, however would like an unlimited number 1 of daily or weekly parking permits