TWBC commissioned an external consultancy called Alpha Parking to study the level of use of car parks currently owned by the Council where parking charges were not currently in place.
Who are Alpha Parking? “Alpha Parking Ltd is the leading UK independent supplier of parking consultancy services. They provide successful and cost effective solutions for all on and off-street parking requirements within the private and public sectors.” Their business is all about making money out of parking.
The reason for the study as stated by Gary Stevenson, Head of Environment and Street Scene Services at TWBC, is to highlight that the consultants, Alpha Parking, had considered two different standards for the condition of the car parks and that they had produced data on the projected income of car park charging at these locations. Mr Stevenson pointed out that income projections based on alternative tariffs had been included as an appendix to the Report by way of comparison, but asked the Committee not to follow the suggestion of the Overview and Scrutiny Officer in that he wasn’t expecting the Committee to recommend one tariff or the other at this stage.
Mr Stevenson emphasised that no firm proposals to introduce car park charging in the car parks identified had been developed; the purpose of the report was to enable the Select Committee to consider the findings of the car park study to enable early feedback to be gathered from both Members and the public. Finally, Mr Stevenson confirmed that the report to the November Cabinet meeting, mentioned in the briefing note, would be the report from this meeting of the Select Committee setting out the views of the Select Committee and its recommendations. The Scrutiny Officer presented a report notifying Cabinet of the recommendations made by the Local Economy and Housing Select Committee at its meeting on 20 October 2009.
It was noted that the Select Committee had examined a Car Parking Study Report commissioned by the Environment and Street Scene Service to assess options and costs associated with upgrading the free to park car parks operated by the Borough Council and to look at introducing a pay to park system. This included determining the level of occupancy of the car parks and proposing parking management/charging options.
The Select Committee’s recommendation to Cabinet was as follows:
- That formal consultation on car park charging across the borough be commenced, to include residents, Parish and Town Councils, local Ward Members and local businesses;
- That consideration of public transport and economic impact be included in this consultation due to the lack of detail in the report;
- and that the consultation, once completed, returns to the Select Committee prior to a decision being made by Cabinet.
| 
