To receive any questions of which members of the Council have given notice.  The deadline for notification for this meeting is 10.00 am on Friday 9 February.

Questions were received from Councillors Andy Boddington and Roger Evans and were made available to Members at the meeting.

Question from Councillor Andy Boddington

1)    Why is the Red Zone in Ludlow rated as Band 2 rather than Band 3, which would be more effective? A change to Band 3 would bring charges across the entire core town centre of Ludlow – both on street and in the central Castle Street car park – into a common framework that will be easy to understand and implement.

2)    The council proposes reducing pop and shop to five minutes. If it does so, will the council erect signs to inform drivers of the additional ten minute observation period? If not, why not?

The Director of Place and Enterprise gave the following response:

1)    The Red zone is located in the core town centre area and is currently used by resident permit holders, visitors, trades people and businesses. The intention of the strategy is to promote not only transport hierarchy and model shift but also to promote appropriate turnover. Residents who have purchased residents permits to park on street in close proximity to their homes currently have difficulties in finding a space, in particular in the red zone. The strategy is designed to encourage visitors and workers to park in appropriate preferably off street provision proportionate to their requirements although the option also remains for them to utilise the on-street provision subject to payment of the appropriate premium tariff.

2)    Yes, appropriate signage will be provided.

Question from Councillor Roger Evans

A       What is the expected income that the following parts of the new Strategy will generate for Shropshire Council and how much of this will be extra as a result of what is proposed to take place if the Parking Strategy as agreed by cabinet is finally approved please.

·           iii. That the car parks and on-street pay and display parking areas listed in table 4 of this report and respective specified tariff Bands are adopted within the proposed

strategy framework.

·           v. That the hours of charging using linear tariffs be extended until 8.00pm on all Bands 1 and 2 car parks and on Frankwell Main, Riverside & Quay car parks.

·           vii. That the new streamlined trade’s person waiver system be implemented as proposed, including anew fee of £20 per waiver.

·           ix. That the existing permitted concessionary parking period is reduced to 5 minutes, meaning that penalties cannot be issued until a minimum period of 15 minutes has elapsed.

B       I am in receipt of a letter from a disabled resident who has a blue badge. In the letter she says that she is having increasing problems trying to get a disabled car parking space in Shrewsbury. This is occurring both during the daytime and evenings. Are officers aware of this please. During both daytime and evening can we be told what measures will or are being put in place to maintain the number of disabled parking places.

The Director of Place and Enterprise provided the following response:

A.  The additional income we have stated in the draft Financial Strategy is £900,000 above what we generate at present. This is an accurate estimate based on what we know at present, using the existing car park machines that capture minimal data. However, the new strategy is about instigating behavioural change so after 12 months we will be in a much better position to accurately predict future figures, alongside the new car park machines that will be able to provide a high level of usage data.

B.   The parking enforcement service is aware that disabled bays are being misused during day time and in the evening and has introduced additional patrols to improve compliance.  It is envisaged that the new strategy will increase turnover and promote usage of off street parking capacity rather than on street, therefore giving greater availability for blue badge holders to park within on-street pay and display bays, free of charge with no time restriction.