Agenda item

Members requested a report with further details to the proposals presented to the Committee on the 10 October 2019.  Following that meeting, the Committee

recommended to Cabinet:

·       Further work is undertaken with regards to the proposals suggested in terms of  the pay and display car parks; and;

·       The required consultation processes in respect of the Pendre Car Park, Cardigan, proposal are pursued.

 

Gerwyn Jones advised Committee Members of the current situation via a

Power point presentation stating that the COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impact on the Service’s ability to progress projects and work beyond maintaining the delivery of front-line services.

 

The Parking Services team have been heavily involved with the Council’s Corporate response to the pandemic which has seen staff redeployed to roles in the Test, Trace and Protect Team, Public Protection and to also support activities such as the delivery of food boxes to vulnerable individuals.

 

As the situation with the pandemic has evolved so has the response and in the 

case of the Parking Services team resumption of its full suite of activities, which are mainly related to monitoring, advising and enforcement work associated with the Council’s Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) scheme and managing the portfolio of pay and display car parks, has taken place.

 

A new Parking Services Manager, Nicola Parry, was appointed and has been in Post since July 2021. The role had been vacant for over 12 months prior to this date due to the pandemic and the Environmental Services restructure. In addition to the Parking Services Manager, the small Parking Services Team currently consists of 4 x Parking Services Officers and 1 x Parking Services Works Leader.

There is currently 1 x vacant Parking Services Officer post and a recruitment

process is ongoing in respect of this.

 

The small Parking Services Team are deployed on a prioritised basis where the

need is deemed most and where their presence is likely to have a positive

impact on issues or concerns. There are some issues and locations, such as in the vicinity of schools at the start and the end of the school day, and situations, such as pavement parking, where the scope of the team to influence these is limited.

 

Officers then advised the Committee of the amount of tickets purchased and  

income from all Ceredigion Town Pay and Display Car Parks as shown in the

Report. The years 2020/21 and 2021/22 will obviously have been significantly

impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic both in terms of usage and income

generated via the machines.

 

Officers then referred to the information in relation to season tickets for use within the Ceredigion Pay and Display Car Parks.

 

Progress has been made following the suggestion from the Committee in

 October 2019 with regard to the provision of more card only parking machines.

 The Council’s Pay and Display Car Parks have been cashless since the

 1 December 2020. The transition, taking into account the number of

  transactions made, has gone well with arrangements reviewed and improved

  on an on-going basis to reflect feedback received and experience. The report

  to Cabinet, presented on the 12 January 2021 can be viewed via the following

  link:

http://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/cpdl/Democratic_Services_Meetings_Public/(Dwyieithog)%20-%20Cashless%20Car%20Parking%20Charges.pdf

 

  It is proposed to rationalise the offering across the car parks and to charge a

  consistent price per space for these across the portfolio of car parks, as

  detailed on pages 49 and 50 of the report. If there was an appetite to consider

  rationalising the charging structure, further modelling work would be required

  to forecast the impact on income generation. Due to the level of income

  generated careful consideration would need to be given to the options

  considered.

 

  Members were then given the opportunity to ask questions which were

  Answered in turn by Officers.  Main points are:

 

·       A Member stated that there is a suggestion in the report to commence charging at Llandysul and Tregaron car parks.  This will be considered further during the Budget Preparation. The Member suggested that Committee Members consider how this would impact on both town centres in terms of economic activity. And confirmed that he did  not consider that introducing car park charges would be cost effective for the Authority in both cases;

·       A Committee Member referred to the cashless machines as not user friendly and suggested they re-visit this issue.  The Officer confirmed that the need to insert registration number had already been removed following a Scrutiny suggestion; and;

·       A Member stated that Wales Audit Office have recognised that the cost of car parking are key barriers to visiting Town Centres, therefore having an adverse effect on the economy.

      

  Following discussion, Committee Members were asked to consider the

  Following recommendation:

·       That the Committee supports further work to be undertaken on the concept

                 of rationalising the charging structure at Ceredigion County Council’s Pay

                 and Display Car Parks.

 

         Committee Members agreed to support further work to be undertaken on the

         concept of rationalising the charging structure at Ceredigion County Council’s Pay

         and Display Car Parks.

 

         The Chairman thanked the Officers for the information.