Contact: Hannah Baker, tel: 01962 857817

1. Summary

1.1 The following decision is sought:

That approval be given to the establishment of Special and Permitted Parking Areas in the Test Valley Borough Council area under the 1991 Road Traffic Act and an appropriate Agreement with Test Valley Borough Council for the management of on-street enforcement.

2. Reason

2.1 To enable decriminalised parking enforcement to be introduced in Test Valley and, under a separate agency arrangement, to authorise the Borough Council to manage both the on-street and off-street parking enforcement. Further details of reasons can be found in the attached appendix.

3. Other Options Considered and Rejected

3.1 No other suitable option available.

4. Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Decision Maker or a Member or Officer consulted - None.

5. Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee - Not applicable.

6. Reason(s) for the Matter being dealt with if Urgent - Not applicable.

Approved by: Date:

Councillor K B Estlin

7278/HB

APPENDIX

1. Scheme Details

1.1 Introduction

The 1991 Road Traffic Act enables the highway authority to apply for approval of Special Parking Areas (SPAs) and Permitted Parking Areas (PPAs). In PPAs, contraventions of orders designating permitted on-street parking places (eg meter bays and residents' and disabled persons' bays) will no longer be criminal offences and will become subject to the new enforcement arrangements. In SPAs the same arrangements apply to all other non-endorsable parking offences (eg contraventions of road traffic regulation orders prohibiting or restricting parking). In most cases the boundaries of SPAs and PPAs will be the same.

1.2 In Special and Permitted Parking Areas:

(i) the local authority can issue and charge for permits;

(ii) the local authority can enforce parking restrictions, including

yellow line restrictions;

(iii) the local authority receives the income from penalties;

(iv) the parking service should be self-financing; and

(v) parking enforcement is managed and prioritised by the local authority.

1.3 The legislation decriminalises parking offences, and all income from charges and excess charges is accrued by the local authority to offset enforcement costs. Any surplus can be used to enhance the parking service. Under the previous legislation, income from enforcement of yellow line offences goes straight to the exchequer and is not available for the Police to plough back into the enforcement service.

2. Joint Working with District Councils

2.1 Several of the district councils in Hampshire expressed interest in participating with the County Council to take up these powers and carry out enforcement of on-street restrictions in their areas. Arrangements were agreed with Winchester City Council, linked to the Winchester Movement and Access Plan proposals, to create an SPA/PPA to enforce all parking restrictions within the Winchester District area. These arrangements came into effect in 1996 and have proved successful in practice.

2.2 The Chief Constable supported the introduction of the new powers in the Winchester area and, following the experience gained here since 1996, has no objection in principle to the extension of these arrangements to other districts in the county.

2.3 On 12 March 2001 a recommendation was approved by the former Planning and Transportation Committee for the establishment of SPAs/PPAs in Hart and Rushmoor. Decriminalised Parking Enforcement (DPE) became successfully operational on 5 June 2002 in both of these areas. Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has also embarked on a similar scheme and this will be reported separately.

2.4 Test Valley Borough Council is now keen to proceed with the adoption of these powers under agreement with the County Council. A sum of £106,000 has been estimated to meet the capital set-up costs for the implementation of DPE in the district of Test Valley. Of this sum, £59,000 is allocated from the Borough Council's own strategy contributions and £47,000 is proposed over two years from the County Council's Area Transport Strategy programmes.

2.5 One of the main benefits of this proposal is that it should ensure that enforcement of on-street and off-street parking is carried out in the same way, to the same standards, by the same authority. The Department for Transport guidelines to local authorities therefore acknowledge that it will normally be sensible for enforcement to be carried out by district councils. However, since the traffic authority is the County Council, there needs to be formal agreement between the County and District Councils as to how the enforcement will be implemented. In Winchester, Hart and Rushmoor, separate agency arrangements were established to manage on-street parking enforcement, in addition to existing agency arrangements. This included appropriate financial provisions, establishing the aim of a self-financing operation and methods of dealing with any surplus or deficit. It is proposed that similar arrangements be adopted in Test Valley.

3. The Next Steps

3.1 The extension of decriminalised parking enforcement to Test Valley will involve a great deal of preliminary work by both the County and District officers in assessing costs, income, staff requirements, administrative arrangements, training, etc, and preparing the necessary Agency agreement and application to the Department for Transport. These elements must all be in place by the time the new arrangements come into effect.

4. Conclusion

4.1 Following the successful operation of the enforcement arrangements in Winchester, the recent extension of these powers to Hart and Rushmoor and implementation shortly in Basingstoke and Deane, it is considered appropriate to continue preparations towards an application to the Secretary of State for an SPA and PPA in Test Valley as part of the County Council's programme. A high standard of enforcement of parking controls can make a valuable contribution to achieving the objectives of the transport strategy.