Cabinet - 13 October 2010 Civil Parking Enforcement Annual Report 2009-2010
Cabinet - 13 October 2010 Civil Parking Enforcement Annual Report 2009-2010
Cabinet - 13 October 2010 Civil Parking Enforcement Annual Report 2009-2010
Wards: All
Key decision: No
1. Summary of report
1.1 This report highlights the progress and benefits of the civil parking enforcement
service in helping to tackle traffic congestion in the borough during its first year of
operation.
1.2 The Traffic Management Act 2004 and its associated statutory guidance,
requires that all local authorities operating civil parking enforcement (CPE)
produce an annual report. The report must contain a range of statistical
information as well as giving the opportunity to demonstrate how parking
enforcement is delivered in a transparent, consistent and fair way.
1.4 Specific statistical information contained within the report must be submitted to
the Department for Transport and the National Adjudication Service in an annual
return.
1.5 This report and the Walsall Council Annual Parking Report (Appendix A) are
intended to comply with the statutory reporting requirements whilst informing the
public in a clear and transparent way.
2. Recommendations
2.1 That Cabinet note the content of the annual report and approve it for submission
to the joint committee of England and Wales for the civil enforcement of Parking
and Traffic Regulations Outside London (PATROL).
2.2 That Cabinet approve the submission of statistical information contained within
the annual report to the Department for Transport.
2.3 That Cabinet approve the submission of statistical information contained within
the annual report to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT)
3. Background information
3.1 The Council implemented CPE on 1 April 2009 and its impact on reducing
unnecessary traffic congestion as a result of illegal and inappropriate parking has
been generally positive.
3.2 Initially it was envisaged that the Council would need to subsidise the cost
of providing the whole parking service for approximately 2 years. However, the
total income generated through the operation of CPE and pay & display car
parking, has exceeded the total operating costs of the service and generated a
small surplus of £56,000. All surplus income has to be used in accordance with
the legislative restrictions imposed by Section 55 of the Road Traffic Regulation
Act 1984. In this instance, the surplus was used to off set the overall cost to the
Council of delivering the Urban Traffic Control function that provides and
operates bus priority facilities for the benefit of public passenger transport
services.
3.3 Clearly, prior to the introduction of CPE, a significant number of motorists had
become accustomed to ignoring parking restrictions. This has been evidenced by
the 25,000 penalty charge notices (PCNs) issued during the first year. However,
pleasingly during the year the numbers issued on a monthly basis declined
steadily as motorists began to comply with the restrictions.
3.4 Under the CPE regime, any motorist can challenge the issue of a penalty charge
notice as the process is defined in primary legislation. Importantly, the process
requires the local authority to act fairly and proportionately by exercising its
discretion sensibly and reasonably and with due regard to the public interest.
The Council has a discretionary power to cancel a penalty charge notice at any
point throughout the process even when an undoubted contravention has
occurred.
3.5 The Council has taken these responsibilities seriously and deemed it appropriate
to cancel approximately 4,500 penalty charge notices either by considering
additional evidence produced by the motorist or applying a degree of discretion.
This level of cancellations is in line with expectations for the first year of CPE
operation where it was anticipated a greater degree of discretion was likely to be
necessary. For cases where it was felt appropriate to pursue further, a number
could ultimately end up at independent adjudication. Again in demonstration of
the Council taking its responsibilities seriously, only a very small number of cases
reached the independent adjudication stage. Twenty-nine cases were lodged of
which nine were heard within the year. The independent adjudicator agreed with
the Council’s decision on eight of the nine cases and asked the Council to
reconsider its position on the remaining case.
Clearly, the Council can demonstrate that it delivers its parking enforcement
activities proportionately and applies discretion where appropriate.
3.6 The benefits of improved parking compliance have been wide ranging. Blue
badge parking bays provided to assist the disabled community are now routinely
available for genuine users, loading/unloading bays now only serve the legitimate
needs of local businesses and general time limited parking facilities on the
highway provide the turnover of passing trade vital to sustain and develop the
local economy.
3.7 School gate parking problems have historically been difficult to tackle but the
introduction of CPE has given the Council a direct influence in improving parking
compliance. The Council has undertaken a series of enforcement activities
around schools, on occasions partnering with the Police to address contravention
of parking restrictions and obstruction of the public highway. Despite the need
for further work in this area, an encouraging start has been made to changing
driver behaviour.
3.8 The application of CPE is an important tool in the delivery of the Council’s
Statutory Network Management Duty. The Council has to implement measures
to reduce traffic congestion and associated air pollution whilst maintaining road
safety. The benefits gained through a reduction in illegally and inappropriately
parked vehicles have contributed to the delivery of that duty.
3.10 The Secretary of State has produced statutory guidance detailing what should be
included in local authority annual reports:
3.11 Financial
a) Total income and expenditure on the parking account kept under Section 55
of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 as modified by Regulation 25
of the Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) General
Regulations 2007
b) Breakdown of income by source (i.e. on-street parking charges and penalty
charges)
c) Total surplus or deficit on the parking account
d) Action taken with respect to a surplus or deficit on the parking account
e) Details of how any financial surplus has been or is to be spent, including the
benefits that can be expected as a result of such expenditure.
3.12 Statistical
3.13 The joint committee of England and Wales for the civil enforcement of Parking
and Traffic Regulations Outside London (PATROL) was established to enable all
Councils to carry out civil enforcement of parking contraventions . The joint
committee is responsible for the appointment of independent adjudicators to the
Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT).
3.14 The PATROL joint committee recognises the importance of public information
and in 2009, the PATROL Annual Report Award was launched to promote and
share best practice amongst Council’s in the production of parking annual
reports. The submission of Walsall’s annual report will assist with increasing the
public understanding of civil parking enforcement and sharing of best practice.
3.15 The Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT) is an independent tribunal whose impartial,
independent Adjudicators consider appeals by motorists and vehicle owners
whose vehicles have been issued with a Penalty Charge Notice.
3.16 The Traffic Penalty Tribunal annual report contains statistical information
compiled from all local authorities operating CPE:
4. Resource considerations
4.1 Financial: The financial information contained within the appendix to this report
has been used in the longer term financial planning for the delivery of CPE. As
can be seen from Appendix A attached to this report, for 2009/10 the overall
service had a surplus of income over expenditure of £56,000.
The production and publication of an annual report will allow citizens to more
clearly understand the operational, financial and transport objectives associated
with the operation of CPE.
6. Community safety
7. Environmental impact
8.1 Risk: Failure to produce an annual report and submit the required statistical
information could result in intervention by the Secretary of State.
9. Equality implications
10. Consultation
This report has been produced in consultation with the Neighbourhood Services
finance team.
Background papers
None
Author
Paul Leighton
Group Leader
( 652458
* [email protected]
Jamie Morris Councillor Tom Ansell
Executive Director Portfolio holder - Transport
Walsall Council
Annual Parking Report
1 April 2009 – 31 March 2010
October 2010
Walsall Council
Annual Parking Report 2009-10
Contents
1. Foreword Page 2
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Foreword
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Annual Parking Report 2009-10
The Council has a statutory duty under the Traffic Management Act
2004 to manage traffic congestion. Direct management and control of
parking enforcement was necessary to ensure we complied with this
duty.
On 1 April 2009 responsibility for parking enforcement transferred
from the Police to the Council. This allowed the Council to directly
influence reductions in traffic congestion and associated pollution
whilst allowing the Police to redirect resources to deal with core
Policing activities.
Prior to the transfer, a thorough review of all parking restrictions was
undertaken. The review considered the ongoing appropriateness of
existing restrictions, the need for minor amendments, deletions or new
restrictions.
The new Traffic Regulation Order containing the revisions was widely
advertised for consultation prior to being sealed for implementation.
The borough wide traffic regulation order is regularly reviewed and
updated as further changes to the order become necessary. The
Order is available for inspection in the First Stop Shop, Civic Centre,
Darwall Street, Walsall.
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Annual Parking Report 2009-10
Priority has also been given to ensuring that parking facilities are only
used by their intended users, with particular emphasis being given to:
• Taxi Bays
• Bus Stops
• Loading/unloading bays
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Annual Parking Report 2009-10
The Council will always try to achieve full compliance with parking
restrictions particularly as they were originally installed to assist with
managing the efficient operation of the highway network and, or, to
maintain road safety. However, in order to achieve this there needs to
be the deterrent of a penalty charge notice being issued to motorists
that wilfully do not comply with the restrictions.
We recognise that there will be instances where the motorist feels
they have complied with the restrictions, or did not understand the
nature of the restrictions but despite this their vehicle received a
penalty charge notice.
In these instances, the Council encourages motorists to challenge the
Penalty Charge Notice should they feel there are mitigating
circumstances leading up to the issue of the Notice. The process for
this is detailed on the rear of the penalty charge notice and on the
Council’s web site.
The Council has a duty to act fairly and proportionately when
determining the outcome of a challenge and takes this responsibility
seriously.
We require that the challenge is submitted in a written format but this
can be either through:
Email:
Internet access:
www.walsall.gov.uk/index/transport_and_streets/motor_vehicles_roads
_and_parking/parking_services/parkingfines.htm
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By Post:
In Person:
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Parking Dispensations
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Joint Working
School Gate Parking Enforcement
School gate parking problems have long been a difficult and
contentious issue to solve. We understand that parents lead busy lives
and are often concerned for the safety of their children when walking to
school. We also recognise the adverse impact that school gate parking
can have for local residents.
To address this problem, we have been working with the Police, the
Council’s road safety team and individual schools to try and encourage
walking to school wherever possible, and responsible parking where
walking is not an option.
Our parking enforcement team undertake routine patrols of school gate
parking zones, but given the number of schools and the limited number
of enforcement staff available at any one time; we cannot provide a
permanent presence at any location.
At these visits Civil Enforcement Officers will arrive before parents start
to arrive and act as a deterrent and move on parents from school keep
clear markings and other parking restrictions which are implemented
outside schools to prevent parking.
It is very rare that parents do not co-operate and in those incidents
Penalty Charge Notices are issued.
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Statistics
PCNs Issued On-Street
2009/10
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2009/10
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11%
16%
73%
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7%
17%
76%
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2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
9 9 0
r-09 y-09 n-0 ul-09 g-09 p-09 ct-0 v-09 c-09 n-10 b-10 ar-1
Ap Ma Ju J Au Se O No De Ja Fe M
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Although you may feel unhappy that your vehicle has been issued with a penalty
charge notice, you must consider carefully whether the contravention occurred as
there are only a limited number of grounds upon which you can appeal:
Further i nformation can be found on the Traffic Penalty Tribunal web site:
www.trafficpenaltytribunal.gov.uk
The Adjudicator will hear any evidence put forward by you and the council. After
hearing evidence, the Adjudicator can direct the council to cancel the PCN so that
you pay nothing or recommend that the council waives the penalty payment.
An Adjudicator can also find the vehicle owner liable to pay the penalty. The
vehicle owner must then pay the penalty before the end of the period of 28 days
from receiving written notice of the Adjudicator's decision.
Between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010 the following cases were determined by
the independent adjudicator for PCNs issued by:
• Walsall Council
• All Councils
13 25147 0.05% 2 4 6 7 0
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Financial Information
The total parking service budget comprises of income from off street pay and
display parking, permit fees, and penalty charge notices, less expenditure on
enforcement, operational administration, debt recovery, maintenance and
management costs.
2009/10 Expenditure/Income
Total Expenditure £1,462,445
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Treatment of surplus/deficit
The surplus was used to offset the overall cost to the Council of
delivering the Urban Traffic Control function that provides and operates
bus priority facilities for the benefit of public passenger transport
services.
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Future Developments
Double Parking & Dropped Kerb Parking
• What we intend to do
• What exemptions are permitted by legislation
• What the penalty will be
• What benefits will be gained from applying these powers
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We want to improve
accessibility to local
services for the disabled
community and will review
the location and number of
blue badge parking bays on
the highway.
In conjunction with the local
disability forum, we will also
make improvements to the
information we make
available about disabled
parking facilities.
• Fly tipping
• Fly posting
• Abandoned Vehicles
We want to expand this side of their role and will continue to explore
the contribution they can bring to improving the satisfaction of residents
in their local area.
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5. Wallows Lane
To ensure that we continue to introduce and operate residents parking
zones in areas of highest need, we are reviewing our existing policy.
We intend to review the criteria for introduction, the number of permits
allowed per household, the cost of the permit and how the Carbon
Agenda can be reflected in the permit cost.
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Glossary of Terms
Bus Lane
A bus lane is a section of the public highway that is restricted to buses
and any other authorised category of vehicle. They are used to reduce
delays to buses and assist with maintaining journey time reliability.
Cancellations
A Penalty Charge Notice is cancelled when we believe that it would be
unjust to pursue the case or when there is an applicable exemption.
Challenge
An objection made against a Penalty Charge Notice before a Notice to
Owner is issued.
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Contravention
Failure of the motorist to comply with traffic or parking regulations as set
by local Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO).
Decriminalised
This means that it is not illegal to park in contravention of parking
regulations. Enforcement of regulations within a Special Parking Area is
the sole responsibility of the Local Authority and not the police. Parking
is a civil offence rather than a criminal offence. Unpaid charges are
pursued through debt collection agencies and not through the courts.
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Off-street parking
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On-street parking
These are parking facilities provided on the kerbside such
as pay and display or permit parking
Registered Keeper
The person who is legally responsible for paying or challenging a PCN.
These details are obtained from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing
Agency (DVLA)
Representation
This is a challenge against the PCN after the Notice to Owner is issued.
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