Councillors and committees

Agenda item

ON STREET PARKING ENFORCEMENT UPDATE (EXECUTIVE FUNCTION FOR INFORMATION)

Local Committees are responsible for installing and reviewing on-street parking restrictions.  Committees have a scrutiny role in the enforcement operation and a share of any surplus income.

 

This report sets out the background for these arrangements and provides an overview of the enforcement operation.

 

Reigate & Banstead Borough Council undertakes parking enforcement activities within Reigate and Banstead under an agency agreement with Surrey County Council.

 

Report and Annexes 1 and 2 attached

Minutes:

Declarations of Interest: None

 

Officers attending: Gavin Handford, Head of Corporate Policy, Performance and Parking, Reigate & Banstead Borough Council, and David Curl, Parking Strategy and Implementation Team Manager, Surrey County Council

 

Petitions, Public Questions, Statements: None

 

·         Member Discussion – key points:
The Head of Corporate Policy, Performance and Parking presented the report and showed a Powerpoint presentation (attached as Annex 2). He drew attention to the following corrections on page 76 of the report. Correct figures in a new table will be sent out by the Parking Strategy and Implementation Team Manager:

 

Ø    Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) issued per deployed hour – total number of PCNs issued as a ratio of the total number of Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO)  hours on-street. The figure for 2015/16 should be 1.2 not 1.00.

 

Ø    PCN cancellation rate – the total number of PCNs cancelled as a ratio of the total number of PCNs issued. The figure for 2015/16 should be 6% not 8.27%.

 

Ø    PCN Appeal Rate – the total number of PCNs successfully appealed, as a ratio of the total number of PCNs issued. The figure for 2015/16 should be 7% not 4.84%.

 

·         Members wished to know if the obstruction of a drive is a police matter. The Parking Strategy and Implementation Team Manager confirmed that it is not necessarily a police matter and that it is not possible to act from photographic evidence. The Civil Enforcement Officer has to see the vehicle on site.

 

·         Members asked about the powers of the Reigate and Banstead Joint Enforcement Team. The Head of Policy, Performance and Parking confirmed that not all desired powers were transferred from the police to Reigate and Banstead. For example, dangerous parking remained a police enforcement power.

 

·         Members stated they would support machines for on street parking where the ticket shows an arrival time which helps enforcement where vehicles have overstayed the waiting time. The current process is time consuming for Civil Enforcement Officers. The officers agreed to look into this.

 

·         It was noted that the omission of Tattenhams from the enforcement of village centres was a mistake.

 

·         Members noted the impact that temporary additional enforcement staff appeared to be having and asked if this would result in the on street enforcement service breaking even. As a minimum, the intention was for Civil Enforcement Officers to cover the costs of their role and the ambition was to improve the overall financial performance.

 

·         Members asked whether there was a change in the amount of appeals. The Head of Policy, Performance and Parking agreed to provide a written response regarding this increase. 

 

·         There was a discussion around whether there were problems with enforcement where lines have faded or are covered for example by fallen leaves. The Parking Strategy and Implementation Team Manager confirmed lines will be included on works programme. The Head of Policy, Performance and Parking advised that lines are cleared as soon as possible, and Civil Enforcement Officers will radio through anything they see and tell the street cleaning team or Surrey County Council. Similar to situations where lines are affected by roadworks the lines are reinstated as soon as possible.

 

The Committee NOTED the report.

 

 

Supporting documents: