Part 1 ITEM NO. 5 ___________________________________________________________________ REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE LEAD MEMBER FOR STRATEGIC PLANNING ___________________________________________________________________ TO CABINET ON THE 13TH OCTOBER 2015. ___________________________________________________________________ TITLE: Review of Parking, Salford. ___________________________________________________________________ RECOMMENDATIONS: That the City Mayor, in consultation with Cabinet approves the following recommendations. • That parking charges be frozen at levels set in November 2013, through the 2015/16 financial year. • That the half-hour free parking on car parks is maintained. • That the currently agreed operating hours are maintained. • That the £50 per household, annual fee is not increased for future resident parking schemes. • That the criteria identified at paragraph 2.20 of the report relating to requests for resident parking schemes is implemented. • That an increase in the number of electric charging points is approved and that the first four hours of free parking for electric vehicles whilst charging, is maintained. • That the recommendations at section 6 and 8 of the attached report are agreed in relation to the introduction of further pay and display locations, disposal of car parks, policy criteria and changes in management arrangements. ___________________________________________________________________ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Parking charges were introduced in Salford during the early 1990s on some of the Council’s off-street car parks. The charges remained static over a number of years with small increases being applied throughout the City on an irregular basis, the last being in 2011. Following representations made by some Elected Members, the City Mayor called for a review of parking in the City. This report examines parking in general, the history behind the introduction of parking charges in Salford, the current position and recommendations for future charging policy taking into account charging policies of neighbouring Councils. ___________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS: None (Available for public inspection) ___________________________________________________________________ KEY DECISION: Yes. Added to Forward Plan 19th August 2015 ______________________________________________________________ KEY COUNCIL POLICIES: Local Transport Plan. Council Budget. ___________________________________________________________________ EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND IMPLICATIONS:- Car parking is provided throughout the City, both on and off-street, mainly free of charge although some car parks and on-street bays are subject to pay and display tariffs. The report recommends no change to the current tariff regimes and possible introduction of charges in other locations. Protected groups have been considered in respect of all the recommendations, especially disabled motorists who receive parking concessions through the blue badge scheme and they would not be affected by any change. The car parks recommended for disposal get little or no use and again no protected groups would be affected. ___________________________________________________________________ ASSESSMENT OF RISK: The review has been undertaken to examine the wider aspects of parking issues throughout the City to eliminate any risk of under or over provision of amenities and to ensure parking charges are set at an appropriate level. SOURCE OF FUNDING: Parking Budget/Civil Parking Enforcement _________________________________________________________________________ LEGAL IMPLICATIONS: Supplied by Helen Chapman, Solicitor. Tel: 234 3227. Section 32 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 provides the Local Authority power to provide parking places for vehicles where it appears to the Authority necessary in order to relieve or prevent congestion of traffic, and section 35 of that Act gives the Authority power to charge for use of that place. It therefore follows that the charging structure must be founded on the need to relieve or prevent traffic congestion and provided that this has been the key consideration when determining whether to maintain the existing charging structure there should be minimal legal implications as a result of the decision. ___________________________________________________________________ FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: Supplied by Janet Cross. Tel: Ext 2858 Further analysis by Parking Services would be required to fully understand the budgetary effects of the recommendations highlighted within this report. In particular, the impact of additional residents’ parking schemes, the introduction of new pay and display locations and the disposal of current car parks will need to be assessed as these have a potential impact on income generation within the revenue budget. PROCUREMENT IMPLICATIONS: Supplied by Deborah Derbyshire. Tel: Ext 6244 No procurement implications. ___________________________________________________________________ OTHER DIRECTORATES CONSULTED: None. ___________________________________________________________________ CONTACT OFFICER: Mr William L Earnshaw TEL. NO. 0161 779 4924 ___________________________________________________________________ WARD(S) TO WHICH REPORT RELATE(S): All ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Background 1.1 Following a call by the City Mayor for a review to be undertaken into parking within the City, a small working group was formed to look into the issues. 1.2 The group was comprised of the following Elected Members and Council Officers; • Chair – Councillor Derek Antrobus, Assistant Mayor for Strategic Planning. • Councillor Richard Critchley. • Lee Evans – Transportation Engineer, SCC Chief Executives Office. • Sally Fletcher – Principal Traffic Engineer, Traffic Management , Urban Vision Partnership Limited. • William L Earnshaw – Group Engineer, Parking Services, Urban Vision Partnership Limited. 1.3 Clear objectives to work towards were set, taking into consideration, the following: • Any changes to Parking Policy need to be cost neutral • Road Safety • Congestion • Economic Benefits The Scope of the review was to look at the following: • Off-street parking – owned or controlled by the Council • On-street controlled parking – the Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) and other potential areas currently under consideration. • The recently introduced Car Club. • Residents/Community Parking Schemes. • Railway Stations -Transport Hub – encouraging sustainable transport. 2. Parking Arrangements within the City and Neighbouring Authorities Off-street Parking 2.1 Salford City Council provide a number of off-street public car parks throughout the City, some of which are managed by various Directorates 2.1.1 A number of others, which are known as ‘Highways’ car parks, fell under the responsibility of the former Development Services Directorate and thirty-four of these are now managed by Urban Vision Partnership Limited on behalf of the Council. 2.1.2 The majority of these (53%) are free of charge to the public but some are regulated by way of ‘off-street parking orders’, subject to parking fees and are enforced by the Council’s enforcement contractor, currently, Vinci Park Services UK Ltd. 2.1.3 A concession to motorist’s parking charges was introduced in April 2012 which, in effect, reduced charges by allowing free parking for the first half hour of use on all the Council’s Pay and Display car parks. 2.1.4 One major addition to the portfolio was the former Salford Royal Hospital Visitor’s car park in Stott Lane following termination of the lease agreement with the Council. Since October, 2012, this car park has been operated by the Council as a pay and display car park offering hospital visitor parking facilities, supplementing those within the hospital grounds and charges reflected those applied to the hospital car parks. 2.1.5 The current operational list of the Council’s pay and display car parks and charges, which apply Monday to Saturday between 0800 and 1800 hours (except where indicated otherwise) are as outlined in section 2 of the review report. On-street Parking 2.2 In addition to off-street parking, pay and display parking facilities are provided on-street by the Council within an area known as the CPZ (Controlled Parking Zone) where motorists can pay a charge to use marked bays, obtaining tickets from roadside machines. 2.2.1 Enforcement of these bays is also undertaken by the Civil Enforcement Officers who can issue Penalty Charge Notices for contraventions of the CPZ restrictions as well as the various waiting restrictions introduced by the Council under Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs). 2.2.2 The CPZ is located in the Chapel Street area of the City and contained roughly between the inner relief route, Trinity Way and the Manchester City boundary. Resident Parking Schemes 2.3 Within the City, a number of permit schemes have been introduced to protect streets from extraneous long stay parking preventing residents from using road space, known as ‘Residents’ or ‘Community Parking’ schemes. (Details of current schemes are included at appendix ‘A’). 2.3.1 A decision was made in 1999 to introduce a fee of £50 per household for residents to subscribe to such schemes but this has not been consistently applied and anomalies in charging policies have developed as schemes have been introduced in the intervening years. The Council has received requests to introduce several other schemes covering a number of streets 2.3.2 A high