Background
The County Council as part of its budget strategy for the 2023-24 agreed to meet the £50,000 additional Income target for car parking charges in council run car parks within its 2023-24 budget strategy through increasing Car Parking charges by up to 40% in accordance with the table below.
Length of ticket |
Cost per Ticket – 2022-23 £ |
Cost per Ticket – 2023-24 £ |
|
Percentage Increase |
|
|
|
|
|
Up to 1 Hours |
1.00 |
1.40 |
|
40% |
1 – 2 Hours |
2.00 |
2.50 |
|
25% |
2 – 4 Hours |
3.00 |
3.25 |
|
8% |
Over 4 Hours |
4.00 |
4.00 |
|
0% |
|
|
|
|
|
Applying these charges to the 2021-22 usage figures below would result in an estimated increased income to the authority of approximately £317,000, six times that of the identified target, less the one-off cost of making changes to the parking machines and signs etc.
Alongside increasing the charges for the three lower time bands the proposal was made and accepted to remove the “up to one hour” ticket option in the many long stay car parks across the county, resulting in the increase in the charge for some one just popping to the shops for a few things or a quick coffee with friends from £1.00 to £2.50 an increase of 150%.
The table below shows that 40% of the Car Parking tickets purchased between August 2021 and July 2022, a year when the Country was still emerging from the COVID 19 pandemic, was for stays of up to an hour, with around 80% of these tickets being purchased in long stay carparks would result in 272,000 tickets being subject to the 150% increase in cost and delivering a further increased income of £299,000 which when added to the £317,000 identified above gives an total additional income of £616,00 against the £50,000 target, before adjusting for any decrease in the number of tickets purchased. It is likely that the full year, non-pandemic, ticket sales would be somewhat higher than in a year when we were still emerging from the Pandemic.
Length of Ticket |
Number of Tickets purchased (August 21 – July 22) |
Percentage of purchases |
|
|
|
Up to 1 Hour |
340,562 |
40% |
1 – 2 Hours |
299,203 |
35% |
2 – 4 Hours |
124,803 |
15% |
Over 4 Hours |
86,166 |
10% |
|
|
|
Total |
850,734 |
100% |
With such a significant increase in charges, the authority has expected and accounted for a reduction in the number of tickets purchased, especially of those in the lower two time bands. Members who represent the larger towns in the authority and as reported in the local press are fully aware of an increase in the number of vehicles being parked on the streets and within local estates and many shopkeepers in the towns have reported that they have seen a reduction in trade that coincided with the introduction of the new car parking charges.
In the Council’s meeting in July, the cabinet member for a Greener Powys stated in a response to a question raised by a member of the public that a review of the car parking charges would be undertaken in the Autumn.
Based on this statement I and Cllr Breeze agreed that we would withdraw the motion that was on the agenda to be discussed in respect to car parks at the same July meeting.
It is now our understanding that the proposed working group will not be established and have its first meeting until later in October or even early November and probably not make its recommendations to the Council / Cabinet until the new financial year. This will result in the continuation of the current issues being experienced in many of our towns which we do not find acceptable and therefore we would propose that the up to 1 hour parking charge is reintroduced into the designated long stay car parks while the wider review is being undertaken.
Motion
1. To reintroduce the up to one hour parking period into all the current designated long stay car parks run by the authority, which are currently subject to a parking charge with effect from 1st November 2023.
2. That the charge for up to one hour parking in the designated long stay car parks should be set at £1.40 in line with the charge for the same time period in the designated short stay car parks.
Proposed by County Councillor Gareth E Jones
Seconded by County Councillor Jeremy Pugh
Whilst recognising that there will be some additional costs incurred in changing the parking machines and signage, it is clear based on the figures given above that the additional income achieved from the increase in car parking charges for the 2023-24 will still be above the £50,000 included in the medium term financial plan for the current financial year.
The detailed costings that we have undertaken are detailed in the embedded spreadsheet.
Financial Assessment The analysis provided by the Councillor has previously been reviewed and the methodology behind his modelling is sound. The Service have confirmed that the Car Parking Review Report will be signed off at EMT on the 19th September with consideration being given to the cross party approach, and governance.
In long stay car parks, they now only have the option to pay for a minimum of a 2 hour stay (£2.50), the motion proposes we reintroduce a 1 hour stay option (£1.40).
Based on 1 hour ticket sales at long stay car parks during the period 1st August 2021 to 31st July 2022 where 225,601 tickets were sold, we know that on average car park ticket sales have reduced by 7.4%, so assuming that there will be roughly 208,906 tickets per annum that could be reintroduced at the 1 hour price rate, then this would result in an annual reduction in income of approx. £230k (£96k estimate for 1st November 2023 to 31st March 2024 period).
HTRs current forecast for 2023-24 is to over-recover car park income by £392k, after accounting for the savings target, review costs and staffing, overheads/software development needed in the service. Using this to manage their budget position this year.
If the 1 hour parking period is reintroduced into all long term stay car parks, this will reduce the income by approx. £96k in 2023/24. Expenditure of approximately £7k would be incurred on changing signs/software changes, reducing the forecast over-recovery of income down to £289k. This would push the service into a projected overspend position.
The service would propose to offer this over-achievement of income as a contribution to support budget pressures for the 2024/25 budget.
|
Minutes:
Council considered the following notice of motion proposed by County Councillor Gareth E Jones and seconded by County Councillor Jeremy Pugh:
1. To reintroduce the up to one hour parking period into all the current designated long stay car parks run by the authority, which are currently subject to a parking charge with effect from 1st November 2023.
2. That the charge for up to one hour parking in the designated long stay car parks should be set at £1.40 in line with the charge for the same time period in the designated short stay car parks.
County Councillor Pete Lewington proposed an amendment seconded by County Councillor Iain McIntosh:
Delete 2 and replace with:-
That the charge for up to one hour parking in both short stay and long stay car parks should be reintroduced at £1.00 with effect from 1st November 2023.
This amendment was put to the vote and lost by 24 votes to 35.
County Councillor Gareth Ratcliffe proposed an amendment seconded by County Councillor Angela Davies:
In light of the motion coming forward, we propose the council hold off on any change in parking charges and refer the original motion to the cross-party car parking review group established by the Portfolio Holder to be considered with other options, including options to consult with communities and the council to seek their views as to whether they would like Powys County Council to reintroduce the 1-hour parking in their community long-stay car park or to forgo the 1 hour and stay with a 2-hour minimum with 50p from every 2-hour ticket issued going back into the community to help them run tourist facilities such as public toilets and community activities. Any recommendations from the review board are to be brought back to scrutiny prior to being considered by the cabinet.
The amendment was put to the vote and by 30 votes to 27 with 1 abstention it was
RESOLVED that the council hold off on any change in parking charges and refer the original motion to the cross-party car parking review group established by the Portfolio Holder to be considered with other options, including options to consult with communities and the council to seek their views as to whether they would like Powys County Council to reintroduce the 1-hour parking in their community long-stay car park or to forgo the 1 hour and stay with a 2-hour minimum with 50p from every 2-hour ticket issued going back into the community to help them run tourist facilities such as public toilets and community activities. Any recommendations from the review board are to be brought back to scrutiny prior to being considered by the cabinet.
Council adjourned at 13:05 and reconvened at 14:00.
Supporting documents: