Agenda item

The Board considered a report on the Parking Enforcement Service Level Agreement with Wychavon District Council, containing a draft version of the service level agreement document.

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration was invited to address the Board. In addressing Members, the Deputy Leader stated that at the last Cabinet Working Group meeting the draft parking enforcement contract was considered. It was the opinion of the Cabinet that further work needed to be undertaken on the Cabinet report and that the opinion of Overview and Scrutiny Board should be sought before the report was finalised.

It was commented that feedback from residents received by Councillors indicated that there was significant concern among residents about lack of parking enforcement within and outside Bromsgrove Town Centre.

The Deputy Leader noted that Overview and Scrutiny Board might wish to consider and offer comment on how Council car parks should be managed,  the length of any future parking enforcement contract and whether it would be appropriate for future contract to be awarded to Wychavon District Council, to go out to tender, or to have the service delivered in house.

Following this introduction, the Interim Head of Environmental and Housing Property Services addressed the Board and in doing so introduced representatives from Wychavon District Council (WDC) present at the meeting. It was noted that the WDC representatives currently managed Bromsgrove’s parking enforcement operationally. Members were asked to note that since March 2023, Bromsgrove’s parking enforcement service operated on a monthly cycle with the service agreement with Wychavon District Council extended on a month-by-month basis.

It was noted that parking enforcement service had struggled with staffing levels. The normal operating staffing levels for the service across Bromsgrove District was 5.5 Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO) posts (5 full-time and 1 part-time post). However, over the last financial year only 3 CEOs were employed and staff levels were down to 2 CEOs as of last week. A successful recruitment had taken place, however, meaning the team would be up to 4 Members of staff and to full capacity by later in the year. For the moment, however, the parking enforcement team remained understaffed. It was stated by Wychavon representatives that civil enforcement officers who had recently been recruited all resided in proximity to Bromsgrove District. During discussion of staff levels, it was clarified that the Council had only incurred costs for the Civil Enforcement Officers based on the actual staffing level in Bromsgrove.

It was stated that Wychavon District Council (WDC) currently had responsibility over management and enforcement of On and Off-Street Parking in Bromsgrove District in addition to administrative functions around enforcement. The report as presented proposed that Wychavon District Council (WCD) would continue to provide parking enforcement and management service for Bromsgrove for a period of 5 years from April 2024. The report also asked that the Council’s existing yearly budget for parking enforcement and management service of £242,000 be increased to £335,000 from April 2024. This increase would inclusive of any annual inflation as determined by Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Following the presentation, Members debated the report and the following was noted:

• Members put on record their thanks to the parking wardens for their hard work, especially in the context of staffing shortages where more pressure was put on each officer.
• Parking machine upgrades - It was noted that Council had recently upgraded its parking machines and Members were appreciative that these provided a range of payment options. It was noted that the new machines would allow more robust data to be collected on parking use. It was noted that parking machines formed a separate contract from parking enforcement and any future upgrades to parking machines would require capital funding that would need to be agreed by Council.
• Payment options at car parks - Some Members commented that as part of the National Parking Platform (NPP) pilot-project funded by Department for Transport (DfT), it was proposed that parking machine solutions be implemented that would potentially remove payment by cash as an option for parking payment. A Member, however, noted that around half of parking payments in Bromsgrove were still made in cash and lots of residents preferred to pay for parking by cash rather than digitally. Officers responded that NPP was a new initiative and any proposals on upgrading parking machines would first need to be brought forward to Members for consideration.
• Current parking enforcement contract arrangements - Officers confirmed that there was currently no contract for parking enforcement service in place and Wychavon District Council delivered the service on a month-by-month basis.
• Possibility of introducing automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) controlled parking - It was explained that the Council would need to erect barriers in its car parks to be allowed to proceed with this option. It was added that even with ANPR in place, taxi and disabled bays would still require patrolling by civil enforcement officers.
• Number of penalty charge notices (PCNs) issued annually - Members noted that the Schedule 2 of the submitted draft Service Level Agreement (SLA) contained provision that if the number of PCNs processed exceeded 7000, Bromsgrove would be required to pay a further payment of £10 for each additional PCN issued. It was responded that currently the number of PCNs issued per year was not reaching this figure in Bromsgrove and additional costs associated with this were very unlikely.

• Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT) cases - It was noted that in the proposed agreement a provision was made for Wychavon District Council to prepare up to 30 TPT cases per annum at no extra cost. It was noted that currently there were significantly less TPT cases per year basis and that this figure was unlikely to be reached in any one year.
• Provision for parking enforcement outside Bromsgrove Town Centre - It was stated that within the draft SLA, provision was made for coverage of on street enforcement outside the Town Centre. Work was currently in progress to review patrols that were undertaken by Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs), both the frequency and the routes taken. Members commented that the provision, as per page 50 of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) submitted before the Board, for only 10 per cent of all patrol time to take place outside town in areas including Rubery, Hagley, Wythall and Barnt Green was greatly insufficient.
• Members commented that parking enforcement (both on street and off street) was almost non-existent outside the Town Centre, and the 10 per cent provision for enforcement time to be spent outside Town Centre would not bring about an improvement. It was reported by Officers that past version of the SLA was time neutral in terms of Officer time to be spent patrolling in each area of the District. This provision would be reconsidered.

• Identification of parking enforcement hotspots - Members reported that they were receiving regular complaints from residents about anti-social parking, particularly in hotspot locations, and were therefore aware of the locations where parking enforcement was particularly needed. It was raised as an action that Members contribute to compiling a list of hotspot locations for parking enforcement. It was noted that a regular forum for Members meeting with parking wardens was needed, as elected members could then provide feedback on the hotspot locations directly to Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs).
• Visibility of Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) on patrol duty - Members reiterated that parking wardens needed to have regular patrol routes in areas outside the Town Centre in order to be seen and act as a deterrent to parking offenders.
• Income from parking tickets and fines - It was noted that the Council’s annual parking income from tickets was in excess of £1 million in 2022-23. Only Council’s Town Centre car parks had charges, therefore, any parking income only came from these car parks. The total income from parking fines in 2022-23 amounted to circa £106,000 last year (this included circa £57,000 from on-street parking fines and the rest from off-street penalty charge notices). In discussing these figures, some Members commented that parking enforcement and fines were viewed mainly as a deterrent rather than a way to generate income.
• Officers apologised for any insufficient enforcement and issues with enforcement of parking around schools (and more generally) that might have occurred as a result of temporary under-staffing. Members were asked to forward any comments and complaints from residents to Officers for analysis. This would help officers better understand the main issues and find ways to address the concerns.

The Interim Head of Environmental and Housing Property Services raised the following points in response to the content of Members' comments:

• The report was brought to the Overview and Scrutiny at an earlier date to allow Members' comments to be fully considered before any decisions were made by Cabinet. It was accepted that the draft Service Level Agreement would need to be re-written based on Members' comments.
• The Council needed to ensure continual operation of parking enforcement and it was important that arrangements were in place by April 2024. The Council would need to look at specification in detail before it could go out to tender for the service.
• Large amount of data was available, for example pertaining to the dates and locations of where penalty charge notices (PCNs) are being issued. This data would be analysed and parking enforcement strategy and contract procurement reviewed based on the findings.
• It was noted that in the view of Officers it would be optimal for the Council to be given another 12 months to work with Wychavon District Council to work on improving the Service Level Agreement (SLA), taking into account comments raised by Members, to provide more certainty and continuity with respect to the parking enforcement service.

Following the discussion, the Board put forward a recommendation to Cabinet. The recommendation was proposed and seconded and on being put to the vote it was:

RECOMMENDEDthat with regard to the parking enforcement service the Cabinet consider the following options: a) go out to tender for the parking enforcement contract; b) have the service delivered in-house.