Decision Maker: Corporate Director of Business and Environmental Services
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: Yes
Is subject to call in?: No
The Corporate Director – Business and
Environmental Services (BES) and the BES Executive Members noted
the outcome of the updated review into parking permit prices. In
particular the revised figures that simplify the charging structure
and updated analysis of the legal aspects of the proposal having
regard to current legislation, case law and statutory
guidance.
Their decision was to proceed with the recommended increase to the
charges for residential permits in line with the revised figures
set out in Appendix 2 subject to the following additional
information.
The Corporate Director and the Executive Members also considered
whether the provision of season tickets in Harrogate should
continue as this appeared to be counter productive to the Scheme.
It was decided that the provision of season tickets is assessed to
fully understand their use and any implications should they be
removed from the permit scheme.
PLEASE NOTE This decision was originally
published on or near the date of the decision and so call in no
longer applies. It has been re-published as part of the change in
committee management system that we use.
The report shows that there is currently a funding gap of
£165k so the costs of administering the permit scheme exceed
the payments received for permits. Although the Council’s
provision of parking places currently produces a surplus overall
part of that surplus is having to be used to support the permit
schemes. The Parking Strategies and Management guidelines indicate
that the cost of permits should be linked to the costs of
administering the permit scheme and the proposal to increase the
charges in line with the revised figures in the report will close
the funding gap
In addition, the County Council has a duty under Section 122(1) of
the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 to exercise their functions as
road traffic authority so as to secure (inter alia) the provision
of suitable and adequate parking facilities on and off the highway.
The provision of residential parking zones is a part of this duty
and at present there is a moratorium on any investigations of
existing and potential future schemes due to a lack of funding
available to provide the resources needed. The decision to increase
the charges in line with the revised figures will enable the costs
of the permits to be more closely linked to the cost of
administering the schemes and may provide scope for a modest
surplus enabling the Council to lift the moratorium and begin
investigations into requests related to existing and future
residential parking zones in line with its duties pursuant to
S122.
The decision to implement the revised pricing will simplify and
bring consistency to the charges across the county. This will
remove the historic situation where the charges for the same
permits were different depending on where you lived.
The legal advice was given detailed consideration by the Corporate
Director – Business and Environmental Services (BES) and the
BES Executive Members and they were satisfied that the proposal was
appropriate and proportionate and in line with the legislation and
guidance.
Option 1 was considered and rejected as it did
not meet the requirements to rationalise and standardise the
proposed charging levels across the county.
Publication date: 30/04/2021
Date of decision: 15/12/2017