Agenda and minutes

(if any) - receive.

Apologies were received from Councillor Garry Pain (Councillor Wallace substituting).

Councillor Keith Darvill was also present.

Officers present:

Cynthia Griffin, Group Director, Culture & Community

Simon Parkinson, Head of Culture and Leisure Services

Alexandra Watson, Business Unit Manager, Parking

Members are invited to disclose any pecuniary interest in any items on the agenda at this point in the meeting.

Members may still disclose any pecuniary interest in an item at any time prior to the consideration of the matter.

There were no interests disclosed.

The Chairman will announce details of the arrangements in case of fire or other events that might require the meeting room or building’s evacuation.

The Chairman explained the arrangements in case of fire or other emergency requiring the evacuation of the building.

The Committee are asked to consider the requisition of the Executive Decision on the Car Parking Charges in Parks and Open Spaces.

Officers explained that a number of alternatives options, as explained in the Cabinet report, had been considered but rejected as they did not meet the dual aims of encouraging more genuine use of the car parks by public users and achieving the agreed MTFS savings.

While there was a barrier in place at Upminster Park, the staff and maintenance costs associated with this meant it was not suitable to be introduced at other parks.

There had been no written complaints over the last two years concerning commuter parking in parks but parks staff had received a number of verbal complaints about this issue. The problem was particularly acute in Lodge Farm Park. Councillor Hawthorn responded however that she had not received any complaints over this issue during her ward work.

It was accepted that there was a typographical error in the Executive Decision which should have shown the saving to be achieved as £40,000. The estimated income from introducing charges at the three parks was £55,000 and the deduction of predicted maintenance costs of £15,000 gave the projected saving of £40,000. It was explained that the collection of money from the meters and enforcement at the car park sites could be met from existing car park resources and patrols. This would be covered by a Service Level Agreement between Parking and Culture & Leisure. The precise impact on the service would not be known until the scheme started but it was reiterated that both the car parks and enforcement teams had indicated they would be able to cope with the introduction of the three additional chargeable car parks.

The introduction of a new Parking IT system would also reduce the workload from the new car parks. This would allow officers to tell from a computer which meters were full and would hence reduce the number of wasted journeys. The service was constantly seeking efficiencies and improved back office IT would help with this.

The estimated income figure had been calculated by assessing the number of spaces available, current usage levels and the estimated hourly use. A resistance had been built in for people who would stop using the car parks once charges were introduced. This had been set at 40% for Upminster Park.

There was not a major issue with carrying out enforcement during school holidays as the service always ensured a full compliment of staff was available.

Officers explained that Upminster Park had been included in the proposals as it did also suffer from commuters and shoppers parking there. There was also a revenue implication of the inclusion but this was not the only reason. A Member felt however that there was no problem at the park with commuters parking there and that it was mainly users of the park and the New Windmill Hall who would be affected by the imposition of parking charges. Other Members felt that the low level of the charges (20p for two hours) would not put people off using the park.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.