The decision of the Cabinet made on 17 January 2018 with regard to the New Parking Strategy has been called in by the Liberal Democrat Group, as detailed in the attached Call-In Notice.  The report considered by Cabinet is also attached. 

The Scrutiny Committee is asked to consider the decision taken by Cabinet on 17 January 2017.

The Chairman reminded Members that they were only to consider the issues raised in the Call-In notice submitted by the Liberal Democrat Group and attached to the Agenda.

The Director of Enterprise and Place gave a presentation on Shropshire Parking Strategy – Part 1 [copy attached to the signed minutes].  Members noted that a full consultation process had taken place before the Officers had drafted the proposal. The consultation had included evidence from other authorities as well as 20,000 lines of free text received from consultees in Shropshire.  He explained the matrix methodology and the scoring methods which underpinned the proposals.

The meeting was adjourned at 10.25am, at the request of the Liberal Democrat Leader to allow printed copies of the presentation to be obtained.  The meeting was reconvened at 10.40am.

The Parking Enforcement Supervisor explained that the parking strategy attempted to address long standing issues of parking problems in Shropshire and attempted to change customer behaviour in order to ensure that the parking provided was being used as intended. 

In answer to a Member’s question regarding the car park in Castle Square Ludlow, the Parking Enforcement Supervisor explained that market traders accounted for 30% of the car park’s capacity on market days.  Although, the maximum allowed time was 4 hours, there was a general practice of purchasing a second ticket once the first had expired to give long stay parking instead of the short stay designation.

The Director of Place and Enterprise outlined how the decisions on each car park’s banding had been determined, with each location falling into a specific banding between 1 and 7. 

In response to a Member’s query about the town score for Wem, the Director of Place and Enterprise went through the scoring system outlined in the presentation.

Members noted that car parking in Ludlow had to serve workers, shoppers and residents whose individual needs were often in conflict.  Members discussed the request that the Castle Square car park should be restricted to four hours only. The Parking Enforcement Supervisor responded that enforcing a four hour stay where a second ticket had been purchased was resource intensive and impractical.   He continued that a waiver already existed for market traders who purchased a permit.  Under the existing system the cost of the permit was £4 for the day, this was to be increased to £1 per hour.  It was anticipated that the increase in charges would encourage people working in Ludlow to go to the cheaper long stay carparks leaving more room for visitors and shoppers in the short stay carparks.

In response to a Member’s query the Director of Place and Enterprise explained that the policy would have a phased roll-out.  Data on usage would be collected using new machinery which would give more specific data on usage.  Once the new machines had been installed real time data could be collected.  He anticipated that 12 months worth of data would be required to identify pinch points and patterns.  A review would be undertaken once the data had been collected.  It was suggested that the Committee may wish to review this topic as part of its work programme. 

Concern was expressed that people using Ludlow’s amenities in the evening would be discouraged if free parking did not start until 8pm in the Castle Square carpark.  The Parking Enforcement Supervisor explained that this had been in the original proposal but after consultation had been abandoned, although on street parking would be charged for until 8pm. This was to encourage evening workers in the town to park in the car park, leaving on street parking available for residents who had parking permits.  Members noted that the consultation had shown that there were a number of serious issues for residents parking in the town and the car parking strategy was attempting to resolve some of the issues raised.  He agreed that the misuse of permits was an issue that required further investigation.  It was suggested that a reduction in the number of permits available to each property may be a solution.

Members heard that Wem Town Council were concerned about the proposed increase in parking charges and the impact that this would have on the town’s economy, especially as charges for car parking had been introduced relatively recently.  They noted that due to parking charges, cars were avoiding the Town’s carparks and parking in surrounding residential roads, where they caused a nuisance to residents.  Members discussed the impact of parking charges on low paid workers and the unlikely possibility of local retailers establishing a scheme where parking charges would be refunded to customers.   

Members discussed the Trades Persons Waiver Charge.  A Member expressed concern that some trades, such as scaffolders and plumbers whose vehicles may contain large number of tools necessary for their work would find the increased charges prohibitive.  The Director of Place and Enterprise explained that in such circumstances the trader could put forward an application for a different type of vehicle waiver which would be charged differently.  Each application would be judged on its merits. He added that scaffolders would not require a permit. 

A Member expressed concern about the revision of the ‘pop and shop’ scheme where the time a vehicle was allowed to park without charge was to be reduced from 15 minutes to 5 minutes.  He continued that Ludlow Town Council valued this scheme and reducing the time allowed would make it impractical.  The Director of Place and Enterprise explained that in practice the scheme was not changing.  Recent Government legislation had given drivers a period of 10 minutes grace after their parking time had expired.  This in effect was giving drivers the 15 minutes free parking allowed under the scheme plus an additional 10 minutes free parking allowed under the law.  Reducing the ‘pop and shop’ scheme to 5 minutes still gave drivers the additional 10 minutes allowed under the law.  It was agreed that additional signage would be provided to drivers to explain that they were still entitled to 15 minutes free parking.   The Director of Place and Enterprise agreed to draft an appropriate notice, which would be distributed to Members for comment. 

RESOLVED:

                  i.        That the Car Parking Strategy be endorsed; and

                ii.         That Car Parking be added to the Committee’s work programme and reviewed on a six monthly basis.