Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration presented the Strategic Parking Review report for Members’ consideration. It was noted that there had been some disappointment in the length of time it had taken for the report to be presented to Members. It was also noted that the report did not fully address the business case to look at alternative providers, including an in-house service. Unfortunately, it was felt that this would no longer be an option due to the delays experienced. It was explained however, that there was still the opportunity to make some amendments if necessary to the Service Level Agreement (SLA) with Wychavon District Council in order to ensure the best provision for Bromsgrove and its residents.

 

As a result of the detailed discussions at the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 11^th February 2025, several recommendations were made by the Board as follows:

 

• Recommendation 1 – The Business Case and Service Review for the Strategic Parking Review be deferred for 6 months until the issues identified have been addressed as not fit for purpose, in that it did not cover bringing the service in-house.
• Recommendation 2 – there should be an increase in the proposed Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO) patrol time, greater than 25%, included in the Service Level Agreement (SLA), as the current proposal of 25% was not considered to be adequate.
• Recommendation 3 - More CEOs should be funded to operate in the District as opposed to introducing an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) service.
• Recommendation 4 – The Council retained cash payment options for car parks in the District.
• Recommendation 5 – A study be launched reviewing parking in Alvechurch.

 

The Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration addressed these recommendations during the presentation of the report and stated that as a result of the pre-scrutiny there had been several changes to the recommendations contained within the Cabinet report.

 

The Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration explained the amendments and further recommendations as follows:

 

Recommendation 6 – It was suggested that additional wording in bold be included in this recommendation as follows:

 

“The Assistant Director of Regeneration and Property Services following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration, subject to any scrutiny of the proposals, develops a detailed business case and implementation plan including all technical surveys and full costs to install, where practicable and affordable, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems to Recreation Road South, St Johns and Windsor Street car parks and to also investigate other car parks under the ownership of the Council.”

 

It was explained that this amendment was as a response to the recommendation from the Overview and Scrutiny Board in respect of deferring the business case, the implementation of an ANPR system at some locations in the District and the wish to retain cash machines for payments within the car parks throughout the District. It was further clarified that it had been a directive from the previous Government that a cash machine must be retained within Local Authority car parks within a District. This would continue to be the case for Bromsgrove.

 

Recommendation 7 – It was suggested that an additional recommendation be made as follows:

 

“The remaining strategic parking study budget be allocated to undertaking additional parking and traffic study work in wards in the District located outside Bromsgrove town centre.”

 

It was explained that this additional recommendation was in response to the recommendation made by the Overview and Scrutiny Board in respect of a study be launched reviewing parking in Alvechurch. The Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration invited all Ward Members (including Alvechurch) to approach her and suggest areas of parking concern within their wards. Once any issues had been ascertained, the remaining strategic parking budget could be allocated to look at issues within these wards accordingly.

 

An additional recommendation to Council was also made as follows:

 

12)     The Council allocate an additional £70,000 for additional Civil Enforcement Officers to enable increased enforcement during out of hours and weekends.

 

This was a response to the recommendation made by the Overview and Scrutiny Board that more Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) be funded to operate in the District as opposed to the introduction of an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) service and the request to increase patrol time in out of town areas. It was hoped that this extra resource would hopefully pick up any existing and new areas where out of hours and weekend parking was an issue.

 

Following the proposal of the amendments and new recommendations, the Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration, thanked the Overview and Scrutiny Board for undertaking such detailed scrutiny on this report, which had provided lessons learnt for this and other strategic reviews in the future.

 

The Assistant Director of Environmental and Housing Property Services presented the Strategic Parking Review report in further detail. There had been some greater complexities for this piece of work than had been anticipated, which had resulted in delays. He expressed his disappointment and apologised to Members for these delays.

 

It was confirmed that a report had been presented to Cabinet in February 2024 where it had been agreed that a Strategic Parking Review would take place, including on and off-street enforcement and a business case that considered various options including a longer-term SLA with Wychavon, tendering of the service or an in-house service.

 

The Strategic Parking Review would include several areas as follows:

 

• A Strategic Review of existing car parking requirements (including the Shopmobility Service)
• Car Park Management
• On-Street enforcement

 

Car Parks within the District were assessed using a number of factors including capacity, condition, usage, proportions of blue badge bays and Electric Vehicle (EV) charging bays. Once these assessments had been carried out the results were provided by the consultants.

 

In terms of car park management, following discussions at both a Cabinet Advisory Group meeting in May 2024 and an earlier meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board in February 2024, Members had expressed that the ten per cent patrol time for CEO that currently existed within the SLA was not sufficient and that a more equitable balance of patrols be provided to the out of town centres be undertaken following the completion of the review. This, it was confirmed could be changed within the SLA for the future and although a figure of twenty-five per cent had been included within the report it was confirmed that this would be the minimum amount of time spent patrolling out of time and could be increased as necessary.

 

The introduction of an ANPR system was highlighted for Members’ consideration. It was noted that at the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting that had taken place the previous evening, most Members had understood that an introduction of this kind of system would work much like it did in the private sector. That payment would be made via an app with no barriers to prevent people leaving prior to payment. It was clarified that this was not the case and that barriers would be in place so that a vehicle could drive into the car park, the registration number would be recognised and the appropriate payment depending on the length of stay would need to be paid prior to the vehicle exiting the car park. The Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Board stated that this was a much more satisfactory outcome and that if this was the case then the introduction of an ANPR system was not cause for so much concern.

 

Members were informed that measures would be introduced in the future to raise awareness and alleviate parking issues. There were ‘soft’ measures, such as increased education and social media campaigns to increase awareness of inconsiderate parking for example. In addition to ‘hard’ measures, such as parking restrictions and signing and lining options.

 

Following the presentation by the Assistant Director of Environmental and Housing Property Services, the Leader invited the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Board to speak. In doing so it was stated that there had been a number of concerns raised by the Board in respect of the review. He noted that the report seemed to suggest that the scope of the review had been decided at the CAG meeting held in May 2024. It was stated that it was not the purpose of CAG meetings to ‘decide’ outcomes but to provide support in an advisory capacity to Cabinet. It was confirmed that this was definitely not the case and that CAG meetings had never been intended to negate the work that the Overview and Scrutiny Board undertook.

 

During the discussions at the Board meeting, it was felt that the Strategic Parking Review had not fully met the requirements, as it did not provide information as requested in the report considered in February 2024. However, it was highlighted that a deferral of the report, as recommended by the Overview and Scrutiny Board would result in further delays and that, as outlined in the amendment to recommendation 6 (as detailed above) the Overview and Scrutiny Board could look to pre-scrutinise any business case that came forward in respect of this matter if they were so minded to do so. It was also noted that due to the provision of the capital funding allocated to this project this was a one-off opportunity to leave a legacy for the residents of Bromsgrove following devolution.

 

Several other areas were raised by the Chairman of the Board as follows:

 

• There needed to be more yellow lines and enforcement officers in Rubery.
• An in-house solution needed to be considered for continuity particularly when considering devolution, as it was important for Bromsgrove District Council to leave a legacy for its residents.
• The security issues in respect of the cash machines within car parks.
• Alvechurch currently had motorcycle and bicycle parking and due to the incorrect evaluation contained within the report there needed to be a parking study to better understand the needs for this ward.
• Consideration needed to be made to the extra parking requirements that would be required, resulting in an increased number of housing following changes to the National Planning Policy Framework.
• Blue badge holders information had not been taken into account when evaluating the ticket machine data and that the use of the TEMPRO tool was not an appropriate method to use in order to measure the data.
• The use of ANPR outside schools should not be considered as there was already provision in place to collect this information using a van.
• Evidence of the appropriateness of implementing a nighttime car parking tariff to encourage the nighttime economy.
• The implementation of the potential option for charges to be implemented in Alvechurch and Aston Fields car parks as this may increase on-street and inconsiderate parking resulting in road safety concerns.

 

Following the detailed discussion, it was raised that an out of hours and weekend patrol might not work across all wards as each ward had differing needs. It was clarified that recommendations 12 (as detailed above) sought to address this issue and it was hoped that the new CEOs would be reactive and respond to specific needs as and when they were reported; it was important to engage with ward members in order to identify issues. It was reported that there was a need to encourage working with partners such as Worcestershire County Council (WCC), in respect of this project, as it was noted that Bromsgrove District Council could not implement all of the changes on its own due to powers and capacity. It was noted that recommendation 5 in the report included the establishment of a Parking Working Group. This was welcomed by the Cabinet in order to provide a partnership approach to this project. Some clarification was requested in respect of the use of partnership working alongside any ANPR system that was introduced. Would it be possible for the Council to provide information to the Police from this system? It was confirmed that this would not be possible due to data protection legislation and that although the Council did work with the Police with provision of CCTV as necessary, this was done under strict legal regulations.

 

It was also requested that a real time figure for twenty-five per cent of patrol time be provided to Members. Officers undertook to provide this to Members.

 

Further discussion followed regarding Aston Fields and the potential to better utilise the car park adjacent to the railway and that this would be an area of work to be looked at in order to potentially boost the nighttime economy of this ward.

 

In terms of Shopmobility, it was suggested that the Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing and Strategic Housing should consult with the resident who regularly used the service and any decision being made to change the service would be made following this consultation (Option b within the recommendations).

 

In proposing the recommendations clarification was provided in respect of the end date of the SLA, which was 31^st March 2029.

 

Therefore, it was

 

RESOLVED that

 

1)    The Business Case and Service review in respect of the delivery of Civil Parking Enforcement Service (CPE), as detailed in the appendices to this report, be noted.

 

2)    The Assistant Director for Regeneration and Property Services considers the future use of Churchfields Multi Storey, School Drive and Stourbridge Road car parks within the development of the new Town Centre Strategy.

 

3)    Following the review of delivery options for Car Parking Enforcement, and the impending changes arising from Local Government Devolution, and subject to the agreement of resolution 4, the Assistant Director of Environment and Housing Property Services in conjunction with the Assistant Director of Legal, Democratic and Procurement Servies to agree to extend the Service Level Agreement (SLA) with Wychavon District Council for a period of 3 years and 7 months resulting in an end date of 31^st March 2029.

 

4)    The Assistant Director of Environment and Housing Property Services in conjunction with the Assistant Director of Legal, Democratic and Procurement Servies amend the SLA with Wychavon District Council for Parking Enforcement to include a minimum of 25% of patrol time to be undertaken outside the town centre.

 

5)    The Assistant Director of Regeneration and Property Services works with partner organisations including Wychavon District Council and Worcestershire County Council to establish a Parking Working Group in order to work through and consider the range of options contained within the Appendices to enhance the opportunities for better enforcement across the District.

 

6)    The Assistant Director of Regeneration and Property Services following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration, subject to any scrutiny of the proposals, develops a detailed business case and implementation plan including all technical surveys and full costs to install, where practicable and affordable, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems to Recreation Road South, St Johns and Windsor Street car parks and to also investigate other car parks under the ownership of the Council.

 

7)    The remaining strategic parking study budget be allocated to undertaking additional parking and traffic study work in wards in the District located outside Bromsgrove town centre.

 

8)    That option b relating to the Shopmobility service be approved:

 

(b)      To review the provision of the service following the outcome of the Town Centre Strategy Review and the outcome of where the enforcement team are relocated.

 

RECOMMENDED that

 

9)    The Director of Resources includes in the Medium-Term Financial Plan for 2025/26 a capital budget of £100k for ANPR systems to Recreation Road South, St Johns and Windsor Street car parks.

 

10)A revenue budget of £15k per annum be included in the Medium-Term Financial Plan from April 2026 for the maintenance contracts for the ANPR installations.

 

11)A revenue budget of £335,160 for Car Parking Enforcement be included in the Medium-Term Financial Plan from April 2025, which is to include an annual inflationary uplift, determined by the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

 

12)The Council allocate an additional £70,000 for additional Civil Enforcement Officers to enable increased enforcement during out of hours and weekends.