To receive Report No.121/2020 from the Strategic Director for Places.

Report No.121/2020 was received from the Strategic Director for Places. Councillor Stephenson the Portfolio Holder for Culture and Leisure, Environment, Highways, Transportation and Road Safety introduced the report, the purpose of which was to present the existing strategy for review and to invite comment on the shape of a future Parking Strategy and its content and consultation. Mr Von der Voelsungen, Parking Manager, responded to Members’ questions.

During discussion the following points were noted:

·       A refreshed strategy was due by 2021 and the Portfolio Holder wanted scrutiny to have input at the start of the process.

·       Members were asked to look at the Strategy in strategic terms and general parking principles rather than referring to specific situations.

·       The new strategy could consider and include villages rather than just focus on the two market towns, and move away from the current system of referral to the Highways and Transport Working Group (HTWG) to assess individual village schemes.

·       Fees and Charges had been reviewed as part of the annual budget setting process.

·       Any proposed changes to the strategy and new approaches needed to bear in mind the underpinning Department of Transport guidelines and any emerging legislation, as well as the limited resources available.

·       It was suggested that consultation on the new strategy could be done via the Parish Forum.

·       Councillor Begy felt that the new strategy should be reviewed more often as the old strategy had been in place for 10 years.

·       The national ‘Selfish Parking’ campaign, which had been organised by the British Parking association and launched on 23 October, was focussed on tackling inconsiderate parking behaviour such as obstructing the pavement or if the lines and signs indicated no parking.

·       Residents parking hours had been consulted on and residents had requested the hours of 8am-6pm even though many residents were out at work during this time.  Releasing residents’ spaces could provide additional parking in town however once residents’ parking bays were established they were very difficult to reclaim.

·       A park and ride experiment in Uppingham, using Uppingham Community College parking for a Christmas shopping event, had proved very successful.

·       The 30 minutes free parking was popular with residents and Members hoped that this would continue.

·       Although yellow lines in the villages would relieve ‘pinch points’ this could lead to an unwanted urbanisation of villages.

·       As part of developing the new strategy there needed to be positive engagement with local businesses to find out how the Council could work in partnership with them.

·       There were blocks of redundant garages that could be used for additional parking but as most of them were privately owned the Council was somewhat powerless to act.

·       The new Strategy should consider HGV parking.

·       Councillor Payne made a plea for officers to engage with parish councils over the strategy particularly those with neighbourhood planning groups who had already done much of the work on parking requirements and issues within the village.

·       Most councils had a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Police but there was still some confusion over when the police would step in and enforce restrictions. Councillor Stephenson, the Portfolio Holder and Mr Von der Voelsungen, the Parking Manager, would address this issue with Inspector Danvers in order to firm up the MOU.

·       Digital signage could be used to indicate where parking spaces were available within the town.

·       The Chair was keen that a grass roots up consultation be undertaken that included the villages, especially those that surrounded Rutland Water.

·       The intention was for a new parking strategy to be in place by summer 2021.

ACTION:

Councillor Stephenson agreed to give a verbal update on the progress of the new strategy at the Committee’s February meeting.