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Parking Services
Annual report 2008/9
Road Traffic Act (RTA) 1984 was the parking act for off street car parks within the
district
RTA '91 was the On Street Regulation Road Traffic Act 1991 for parking
enforcement until 2008
Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA) came into force 31st March 2008 to replace
the RTA 91 act for on street parking enforcement.
The Thames Valley Police (TVP) was responsible for all traffic
regulations on the highway, with the exception of Wycombe Town
Centre, where Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC) as Highways
Authority, decided in 1997 to implement a Special Parking Area
(SPA). The law stipulated that although you may employ a
contractor to operate the enforcement, the council must operate the
back office representation process with dedicated Council staff.
Over many years, upon requests from residents and Members alike,
it was felt it more logical and more cost effective through economies
of scale, to change from 3 enforcement authorities (TV Police, BCC
on street and WDC Off Street) into one enforcement body using one
set of guidelines.
The police encountered difficulty in dealing effectively with parking
offences due to other criminal priorities and a lack of resources.
It was also confusing for the public as each enforcement body was
implementing different regulations in dealing with parking traffic
offences.
This is happening all across the country nationwide and more and
more local authorities are moving over to one enforcement
operation to make it a consistent and fairer system for the local
residents and consumers.
As a result, a feasibility study was commissioned, the results
publicised and consulted upon by all official stakeholders and finally
agreed by members of both WDC and BCC councils.
However this was delayed due to set up, legal process reasons and
awaiting approval from the Department for Transport (DfT).
Therefore, a phased integration process was undertaken.
During this transition period, all parking staff were re-trained, taking
into account new legislation, but also in customer service and
dealing with difficult situations.
All staff acquired the new City & Guilds qualification although many
already held the NVQ qualification in parking control. New staff
were also taken on, trained and qualified with City & Guilds
certification.
BCC had to check all the lines and signs in the district and renew where necessary in
order for WDC to enforce correctly. This check has been completed and any issues
remedied. It also has to be noted, that there are constant issues arising from lines and
signs and we have to keep under review on signs that go missing and need replacing
and road works occurring where lines need replacing. This happens across the whole
country and councils have to try and keep on top of these issues as much as possible
and replace markings as soon as they are aware of it.
It has to be noted that there are not parking enforcement lines on every road or street
in the district as on many occasions it was not necessary. Therefore WDC can only
enforce where parking regulations exist (yellow lines, defined parking areas, loading
bays or disabled bay areas). See location map attached.
This can lead to a misunderstanding by the public who believe we can deal with
anything which unfortunately is not the case.
The Police still deal with ‘moving’ traffic contraventions, motorways and access
roads and obstruction of the highway as this is a requirement by UK law.
Firstly, a very positive response from the vast majority of people and local town and
parish councils. Improvement in congested areas, improvement for disabled drivers
and moving illegally parked vehicles making many areas much safer for the local
community. A noticeable difference overall and this is just the start.
The negatives – there will always be issues as we cannot please everyone. However,
one of the biggest problems is dealing with people’s expectations and the lack of
understanding of the Highway Code.
It is quite probable, where illegal parking has occurred for years and not enforced to
the proper extent, some people have taken it mistakenly as a right to park where they
like, regardless or double or single yellow lines or signs with time restrictions and not
adhered to the Highway Code.
Parking on pavements or verges (which are all part of the highway) is dangerous and
illegal. Pedestrians, parents with pushchairs and children and the disabled constantly
have to step onto the road and risk their lives to walk passed illegally parked cars.
Therefore, we have run advertising campaigns in the local press and also the
Community Voice magazine, (the Council’s own quarterly news magazine sent to all
residents properties within the district) and the hospital and other local magazines in
an attempt to remind people of the regulations.
We have received numerous requests from people about adding new lines, new
schemes, new residents parking or modifying current schemes etc. The list has been
very large. We are considering all these requests for viability and funding options.
We purposely have not publicised a general note or a request for ideas as this would
swamp the system and would be overwhelming. Remember we have only just started.
Timescales – this is another issue that creates difficulty, as to change and implement a
new regulation, a legal process of consultation, advertising times and council approval
processes has to be followed and therefore even a simple change can take a minimum
of 10 months from start to finish.
We are working in partnership with BCC who remain the Highways Authority and as
such they continue to arrange for the creation of new traffic regulation orders (TROs)
and make any changes to existing regulations.
Both WDC and BCC work very closely together on residents and Council members
new change requests. There is a Civil Enforcement Area (CEA) Steering Group made
up of council officers and Council Members of WDC and BCC responsible for
transportation and parking portfolios.
WDC parking services provide the enforcement role of patrolling the district, both On
Street and Off Street car parks, manage the residents permit scheme and On Street
Pay & Display system.
The On Street and Off Street sections must be accounted for separately and
independently according to legislation.
The Off Street account does make a surplus to start with, but has to fund other
environmental or transportation issues that do not have any income to support them.
Income derived from
a) Pay & display in car parks across the district
b) Car Park permits / scratchcards etc
c) Penalty Charge Notices – again no targets or incentives allowed and on it’s
own, does not cover enforcement overheads
Any surpluses should cover operating costs and are destined by legislation to be re-
invested into funding parking, transportation and environmental improvements. It was
anticipated that costs for starting up and implementing new systems, equipment and
manpower would be a drain on financial resources and we would indeed not recoup
costs or balance accounts on the On street section until a five year period had
transpired.
This does not take into account any new works or changes that may be considered. If
this were necessary to implement anything new, then extra income funding would
need to be identified.
Off street surplus was used towards Park & Ride costs and transportation
services.
First review
We are currently reviewing our first 6 – 9 months of operation and we have been
constantly monitoring from an operational viewpoint how we can cover the whole
district more efficiently and also taking on board customer comments.
All the changes mentioned above, are extremely costly to investigate in the first
instance as surveys have to be undertaken and are then expensive to implement.
Therefore, a selection and priority process has to be implemented. This of course
means that there are some items and schemes that either cannot be considered at all or
will be deferred until funding can be identified. This, regardless of how much we
really want to do this. Priorities can be very difficult and it is the council members
who have to make some of these difficult decisions
Our financial outcome was not as good as expected for the first 6-9 months. This was
due to several factors. A delay in commencement being one, but also the economic
downturn that has occurred nationwide also affected most authorities to one extent or
another. Less people using their vehicles, more people that expected on public
transport (a good thing however), high cost of fuel deterring motorists, to name a few
issues that affected forecasting more than expected.
It is also interesting to note that the number of Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) issued
is very low compared to the millions of users a year (Car parks had 4,000+ PCNs on
2.6 million users (0.2% ) - On street 9000 PCNs users not able to calculate but larger
area than car parks capacity) Therefore, the message is that the vast majority of
drivers are careful and considerate which is great news and only a small minority are
either careless or inconsiderate motorists. It is anticipated that vehicles on the road
will increase steadily and therefore one assumes that ticket numbers will follow.
Prior to changing over to using the new Traffic Management Act (TMA), Wycombe
District Council operated the Off street parking under the Road Traffic Act 1984
(RTA’84)
In doing so, instead of issuing Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs), our officers issued
Standard Charge Tickets (SCTs) and followed similar processes.
For example, we would consider all appeals and if not concluded directly with the
appellant, the appellant had the opportunity of following through the independent
system of the Magistrates Court proceedings.
This system worked very well, but was confusing to the public as it was under
different legislation to On street, under the road traffic act 1991 (RTA’91) and also
the Police system (criminal court).
WDC
Statistics RTA’84 – (April 08 to Sept 08 inclusive) Numbers %
The front line operational service of the parking shop and the On Street parking
attendants were contracted out to a private company called National Car Parks (NCP)
The SPA, only covered the main centre of High Wycombe Town area with a border
around the centre, but took over the enforcement responsibilities from the police on
parking issues and also operated a residents parking scheme in the High Wycombe
Town Centre since 1997.
The following are the financial year statistics of their operation from April 08 through
to June 08 inclusive.
Systems integrated
Both operations are now fully integrated and operational across the district.
An integrated service brings cost savings through combining operations and
economies of scale.
Future- the way forward……
Both On Street and Off Street accounts legally must be kept separate.
The Off Street car parks should provide a return on Council land investment and
balance this with providing support to the community.
Surpluses are a contribution to council services and to reduce council costs.
Since taking over the on street enforcement, we have received a large number of
comments and requests from members of the public, residents groups and local
councillors, asking for alterations to the parking regulations in their areas. These
include suggestions for parking restrictions to be introduced or removed such as
yellow lines or no waiting zones and for new residents parking schemes.
Before we can make any changes, we shall continue to work closely with our
colleagues at Buckinghamshire County Council – the Highways Authority.
This is an exercise that will take some time to implement, however, we are committed
to working closely with our colleagues at the County Council to ensure that the local
views we have received are looked at seriously and where possible changes are made.
Our planning will have to be in two stages, firstly, we need to prioritise issues of
safety and congestion. These issues will need to be thoroughly reviewed with site
visits carried out to consider effectiveness and appropriateness of the locations.
The second stage will then focus on the numerous requests received since the
introduction of the new enforcement system.
Due to the volume of the requests, this phase is likely to run into the following year.
The total cost of evaluating and implementing requests is significant to both councils.
We shall continue to work hard to ensure that with the limited funding and resources
available, we are able to satisfy as far as possible the requests from our residents and
at the same time putting safety and congestion at the top of our considerations.
End of report: