Minutes:
The Committee received a
report regarding the Parking Enforcement Operation 2021, which detailed current
staffing levels within the Authority’s parking services section.
Members asked if the
Council restricted the amount of permits given out in regards to the parking
spaces available; and if this had any impact on the neighbouring streets, in
particular terraced areas. In terms of the current policy, it was stated that two
residents per household could receive parking permits; this was reduced to one
permit if there was off-street parking areas or if the property had a garage.
The current permit scheme did not guarantee a space within the resident bays,
however it offered residents a better opportunity to park closer to their
properties. It was noted that when Officers assess a street they must retain
around 30% of the street as unrestricted, which allows for visitors and those
who weren’t able to park within a bay, to then be able to park within an
unrestricted area; where there were very restricted streets, inevitably
sometimes residents will have to park on nearby streets. Officers mentioned
that with the increase of the number of vehicles privately owned, there were
more cars than physical spaces on the streets in some areas, particularly where
there were terraced properties. It was added that for a permit to be issued on
a street, the car must be registered to a property on the street.
It was mentioned that
there were some areas and spaces across the County Borough which could
potentially be suitable for additional parking bays, for examples verges;
Officers were asked if they could look into this type of solution and if there
were any grants that could be utilised to complete this work. Officers stated that there were no specific grants to
create off street residential parking bays; in the past, there had been schemes
in which the Council was able to create off street parking bays, however there
had not been any for some time due to the pressures on the highway maintenance
budget. It was noted that this type of work was do-able if unplanned monies
became available; the Team were open to suggestions and would always try and
create additional parking, where possible, for residents. It was explained that
Officers would need to be informed of specific issues in Members Wards in order
for them to identify any funding opportunities to fund particular projects of
work.
Members raised points
concerning the shift pattern of the staff and the need for more resources in
the service; and stated that although certain elements of enforcement had been
effective, such as the mobile CCTV van, there would need to more of them in
order to carry out enforcement more effectively. Officers confirmed that the
CCTV van had been very effective since it had been introduced; however, under
the legislation, the CCTV van could only enforce certain traffic orders such as
those relating to double yellow lines, bus stops and bus laybys, zig zags and
school orders. It was noted that complex changes were made when this vehicle
was introduced due to the fact that every traffic order throughout the County
Borough had to be digitalised; this was because the CCTV van picked up where an
order starts and ends from a GPS. It was added that Officers recognised that
traffic orders around schools also had to be completely regularised across the
County Borough; this took a considerable amount of time to complete. Officers
confirmed that they were currently working through costs to potentially
purchase another vehicle due to the effectiveness of the current van and the
amount of requests for an additional vehicle from Elected Members; this would
increase enforcement in the County Borough, however the vans could only be in particular
locations at certain times. It was confirmed that when the existing van needed
to be replaced, a low emission, electric vehicle would be purchased and the
same will apply when purchasing additional vehicles.
In terms of resources,
it was highlighted that the staffing levels had more or less stayed the same
since Local Authorities were given enforcement powers; since that time, over
the last 20 years, there had been around 600 additional enforceable traffic
orders that have been implemented across the County Borough, the number of
surface car parks and off street car parks had increased, as well as some of
the Country Park car parks that the Council enforces. In addition, it was
mentioned that there had been an increase in activity at Aberavon Sea Front in
the summer months and a lot of other tourist destinations in the County
Borough; this was also impacting the service due to these areas becoming more
popular, therefore Officers had to react to these factors. It was stated that
there were severe pressures on the parking service due to these issues
raised.
The Committee was
informed that new developments have had a substantial impact on the urban
areas, and had caused some residential streets to be affected; for example,
there had been a lot of difficulties with displaced car parking at the
university campus on Fabian Way, and because of this Officers had deployed
enforcement to the area when the university was in operation.
Another difficulty noted
was the taxi ranks; however, colleagues in the Licensing Team had recently
taken a report to Cabinet to enable a more joined up approach on the
enforcement of the taxi ranks.
In regards to staffing
levels, it was noted that the service had 10 Officers in total, two of those
being Senior Officers; one job was currently being advertised as an employee
had recently left the Council. It was confirmed that with the new recruit, the
staffing levels would total at nine employees, as one Senior Officer had been
deployed to assist with the Test, Trace Protect (TTP) Service. It was mentioned
that the staff worked a split shift, and Officers highlight the various times
and days that were in the schedule; Officers were also asked to work overtime
to support night time enforcement.
A discussion took place
in regards to the new parking meters, which now had contactless payment;
Members queried whether they were easy to use. It was explained that the
contactless feature was relatively easy to use; it required the user to enter
their car registration number and tap their contactless card against the
machine before a ticket would then be provided. Officers stated that there had
been a phased plan of renewal of all of the pay and display parking meters
across the County Borough; some were now solar powered meters, and others were
hard wired. It was added that all of the machines were now bilingual, and there
were various options to pay for parking; this included chip and pin payment,
cash payment and contactless payment. Members were informed that the service
was also in the process of rolling out a pay by phone option via the MiPermit facility, to all car parks across the County
Borough; this was already in place at the Aberavon Sea Front car park, and
allowed the public to pay for their ticket on their phone.
Officers highlighted
that cash collection from the parking meters had been reduced significantly due
to more people opting for card payment or cashless payment; the service had
been able to review the cash collection system as a whole because of this. It
was noted that there was very little cash now in the meters, and signs had been
put up informing the public of this; there had been numerous incidents where
individuals had tried to break into the machines, therefore it was important to
ensure that the public were aware that the system was now predominantly
cashless.
It was asked, where
there were major issues with parking in certain streets, would it be possible
to take away some of the grass verges to allow for additional parking spaces.
Officers confirmed that they were content to identify opportunities where this
could be carried out; there were various stages to doing this, one of which
would include involving the Road Safety Team to obtain their views from a road
safety perspective. It was mentioned that in some locations within the County
Borough, Officers had advised against creating parking spaces on grass verges
particularly around schools; in these instances Officers had looked at putting
other mitigation measures in place. It was confirmed that in all cases, it
would need to be identified if capital funding was available for the work to be
carried out.
Officers provided
information regarding the new legislation that was due to be issued during the
term of the current Welsh Government; one of the main elements of this was
pavement parking. It was explained that the powers of enforcement of pavement
parking was going to be taken from the Police and provided to Local Authorities
in Wales; this will provide significant additional pressures to the enforcement teams.
A suggestion was made to involve residents in discussions regarding
identifying solutions to parking issues in residential areas.
Following scrutiny, the report was noted.
Supporting documents: