Category: Parking Services

This was one of the things we looked at in the course of last year’s Parking Services Specialist Scrutiny Panel. The draft has now been worked through and the council is currently consulting on it.

Follow this link to consultation page.

In large parts the Code of Conduct will be dictated by the law (or at least our interpretation of it!). No doubt there will be things in it that people don’t like which we can’t change. No doubt we will get lots of requests to increase the 3 minutes observation time (which is discretionary, although not at the level of the individual CEO). Clearly we could increase this but then we would paying CEOs to stand around all day waiting for their handheld computers to countdown.

On the front page of today’s Telegraph there was this piece titled (in my edition) “Drivers face big rise in the cost of parking”.

According to the Telegraph:

Local Government minister John Healey said that local councils should charge more for basic services such as off-street parking, despite people in many parts of the country experiencing inflation-busting council tax rises.

In a speech to the Local Government Association, he said: “Only one in five councils are using charging to the full potential. Not just to cover costs but to shape their area.”

In a clear sign that he believes motorists should be targeted, Mr Healey said that charging more would result in “reducing congestion, improving levels of health and exercise, encouraging the use of local shops”.

It seems that Labour intends to underfund local government and is signalling that councils can use parking charges to cover the gap. Healey is using phoney greenery to cover his tracks.

This time last week we made this announcement about parking charges in Ealing:

• Pay and display parking charges that have been frozen for the past two years, will be frozen for a further two years.
• Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) permit vouchers (priced at £25 and £45) will be frozen for a further two years. The cost of CPZ permits has not been increased for the past two years.
• Residents in CPZ areas will also receive a book of free visitor parking vouchers to use from April 2009.
• New facilities to renew parking permits online and an expanded over the phone parking payment service will also be introduced in early 2009.
• The abolition of parking charges in council car parks after 6pm and on public holidays will remain. This was introduced two years ago and has been such a success that it will remain.
• Following a review of box junctions in Southall, the box junction at South Road/Hamilton Road will be removed.
• The opening hours of the Herbert Road Car Park are to be extended by 2 hours from 10pm to 12 midnight. This is being introduced following representations from Southall traders.

It seems that the government wants to make your life harder. Ealing council doesn’t.

The Gazette covered the final report of the Parking Services Scrutiny Panel yesterday.

See what they have to say here.

The fifth and final meeting of the Parking Services Specialist Scrutiny Panel will take place in Committee Room 2 at the Town Hall at 7pm tonight. See agenda and papers here.

The draft final report is here. It still has a few rough edges but I think the panel has done a good job at identifying the main issues and the work of scrutiny officers has been very impressive.

The six key recommendations of the panel are as follows:

1. The capacity of Parking Services’ customer reception in Perceval House to deal with customers should be increased so as to reduce waiting times in line with the council’s 10-minute target.
2. The opening hours of the customer services reception should be varied to make services more accessible for those who cannot visit during standard hours.
3. All parking services, including making both informal and formal representations against a PCN, should be made available online by the end of the 2008/09 financial year.
4. Parking Services and Customer Services should jointly develop an action plan to ensure that all customers receive timely and quality responses to their written and telephone enquiries and to address areas of poor performance.
5. Compliance with parking and traffic regulations should be developed as a key performance indicator for Parking Services.
6. Parking Services’ should develop a communications strategy to improve understanding of parking regulations and provide additional guidance on parking in the borough.

No doubt there will be a some points raised tonight on the draft document that we will include in the final report that goes to cabinet. I would be very happy to receive any further comments from you in the comments section below.

The third meeting of the Parking Services Specialist Scrutiny Panel will take place in Committee Room 4 at the Town Hall. After a quick follow up on some of the issues raised at the last session we will major on the finances of Parking Services.

This might seem like a dry topic but lots of people wonder how much money is raised and where it goes. Come and hear the answers at 7pm on Thursday.