Agenda item

To receive and consider a report from the Director of Environment & Operational Services outlining details of a call-in received on the Portfolio Decision taken to implement increases to pay and display charges to encourage higher turnover of short stay bays (Report No:3). 

The decision that has been called in was a Portfolio Decision taken by the Cabinet Member for Environment on 14 June 2018 and included on the Publication of Decision List No: 2/18-19 (List Ref:2/2/18-19) issued on 15 June 2018.

It is proposed that consideration of the call-in be structured as follows:

·       Brief outline of reasons for the call-in by representative (s) of the members who have called in the decision.

·       Response to the reasons provided for the Call-In by the Cabinet members responsible for taking the decision.

·       Debate by Overview & Scrutiny Committee and agreement on action to be taken. 

The Chair invited Councillor Laban to outline the reasons for Call-in.

• Councillor Laban referred to one of the areas of concern - that the decision to increase on- street parking charges would negatively affect those on low and fixed incomes.  She said for those people who live in Enfield Town they would probably chose to walk to the town, however for those coming from further afield and especially for those with restricted income they may prefer to go to the retail park or to Brookfield Farm where they would not need to pay a parking charge. She thought this may be considered an ‘equalities issue’ as it affects the poorer members of the community.
• The decision to increase on street parking charges negatively affects those residents who may have disabilities but who do not qualify for a ‘blue badge’.  This could result in increasing social isolation for those who may find it more difficult to leave their homes.
• That the decision does not take into account any further loss of car parking spaces that may occur in the borough in the near future.  Previous discussions around the loss of parking spaces at Genotin Road do not appear to have been considered in this proposal to increase charges.  By reducing supply should the proposals for Genotin Road be approved, and increasing charges this would significantly affect the local economy and local shops.
• Although proposals would affect the local economy there has been a lack of consultation with local businesses. Cllr Laban said local traders know the area best and we should listen to what they have to say.
• The Masterplan for the borough had been agreed during the election however there is no reference to parking and how changes would affect the Masterplan for Enfield.

Councillor Laban said we would be charging people more to park which goes against the principle of ‘Fairness for All’.  She said the proposals were not fair for people who are trading and also not fair on the community.  She requested that the decision be referred back to the Cabinet Member for Environment for reconsideration.

The Chair invited Councillor Dogan as Cabinet member for Environment and David Morris as the Head of Parking to respond, as follows:

• The increase in on-street parking charges are proportionate to deliver the outcome we want, which is to deter long stayers and improve a better turnover of spaces. Parking charges for on-street parking in Enfield and outer Enfield areas for 15 minutes would be increasing from 40p to 50p it is thought this would not be enough to deter parking. Benchmarking has been done with other local boroughs and we compare favourably with them.
• The increase in charges should not negatively affect residents who have disabilities. You are entitled to a blue badge if you are unable to walk further than 50 metres and there are very few paying parking bays further than 50m from our shopping areas.
•  Mention was made that the decision does not take into account the loss of any parking spaces in future, however under the Equalities Impact Assessment we would review parking charges in the next two years to ensure they are still fit for purpose. 
• We appreciate that there are empty shops in Enfield Town but we need to encourage short term parking, by ensuring people stay for a short while and then leave.
• We have been asked to consider the option of some free periods of parking, however costs would be higher for attendants to monitor this and it has therefore been considered that paid parking is the best option.
• Parking is not connected with the Masterplan, however it is hoped that appropriately set parking charges would contribute to a more vital shopping centre.

The following questions/ issues were raised:

Q.  When were parking charges last increased?

A.  In 2011.

Q. Under ‘Key Risks’ in the report it states that with any change in parking tariffs there are concerns from stakeholders that this will affect the high street, does this mean we should have spoken to businesses?

A. We looked at increasing charges by a higher amount but in the end we decided to keep increases at a lower level and review them in two years’ time.  We do not increase charges very often, we did consider going to businesses but this is about the turnover of parking spaces and there was already evidence from surveys undertaken for us to increase parking charges.

Q. The estimated cost of implementing the proposed charges are given in the report but can you give details of the expected increase in income?

A. David Morris will arrange for this to be provided to Councillor Smith.

                                                                                      ACTION: David Morris

Q. The Masterplan for Enfield which was published earlier this year with 100 pages of data. I understand one recommendation put forward from this was that we should look to reduce parking tariffs on multi storey car parks which might reduce demand for other car parks?

A. We have no control on the Palace Exchange car park and Palace Gardens which is council run has under occupancy.

Q. Do you take guidance from the Department for Transport?

A: The Department for Transport‘s Operational Guidance for Local Authorities explains on what you can use revenue from parking charges e.g. for highways.   Surveys show that there is only under occupancy on the upper levels of Palace Gardens car park during the week.  There are 13 car parks where we charge and Palace Gardens is the only car park that has under occupancy.

It was mentioned that under para 3.2 of the report it refers to one of the factors that should be considered when setting parking charges is ‘If on-street charges are set too low, they could attract higher levels of traffic than are desirable’ Which shows the need for a balance to be made.

Councillor Dogan said the intention is to encourage people to stay longer for off street parking (The proposed 3 to 5 hour tariff for Outer Enfield car parks is £4:00 unchanged from the present charge).

Q. Can you confirm that the Genotin car park is extensively used at present?  I ask this because a recent report mentioned that the Genotin car park was not used very often?

A. Yes it is well used

Q. Would it be possible to reduce prices for parking in some cases for example having the first half hour parking free?

A.  Cars would need to be logged and this would increase contractor’s costs.

Q. You stated that we compared favourably with other boroughs parking charges, how will we know what the impact would be of this and whether the aims have been achieved?

A: When we carry out surveys in future we will use the base line figure of the our findings from the survey in March.

Bilal Srhir (EYP) representative suggested that it would be useful to have exemptions for parking charges for workers who work in town centres and who need their vehicles.

David Morris confirmed that we do offer season tickets for our car parks on a monthly or annual basis. Dispensations are also available for a parking bay for a week.  Brown badges are also available for the elderly.

Q. Are season tickets available for people wishing to use the Genotin Road car park?  If Genotin road car park goes where would all these cars go?

A. Yes you can use season tickets at Genotin Road, season tickets are only available for long stay car parks and not for short stay ones and not for specific car parks. 

The summing up by Councillor Laban referred to lower parking charges for Herts and Broxbourne, and said 2 hours on street parking charge for Waltham Cross is £1.60 compared to Enfield’s proposed 2 hour on street charge of £4 for 2 hours. They are a competing borough and she was of the opinion that people would be more likely to go to Brookfield Farm to shop which was free of charge. She said she was not hearing enough about how we are improving/encouraging our local economy.  The proposals do not fit in with plans for Genotin Road and the Masterplan. We need to be helping the local economy.

Councillor Dogan answered that the priority is a higher turnover of cars to encourage people to park for shorter times and then leave.

The Chair said he was mindful of the fact that parking charges had not been increased for seven years and also mindful of the increased cost in petrol, this may influence people to decide whether to use car parking and shop locally or not. The two year review would look at this further. 

Following the discussion, the Committee took a vote on whether the Portfolio decision of the Cabinet member should be agreed or whether it should be referred back to him.

Having considered the information provided, the committee agreed to confirm the original Portfolio decision:

2.1 to implement revised parking charges from August 2018 for the reasons given in the report.

Councillors Akpinar, Aramaz and Needs voted in favour of the decision. Councillors David-Sanders and Smith voted against.

AGREED

The original portfolio decision by the Cabinet member was agreed. 

The Chair CONFIRMED the decision.

Councillor Susan Erbil re-joined the meeting at this point.