By Jason Lewis, Local Democracy Reporter

Controversial measures to scrap free car parking in suburbs including Bitterne and Portswood will go ahead after council leaders were quizzed over the plans.

Photo: LDRS

 

 

The cabinet decision to no longer offer two hours of free parking and introduce new charges seven days a week at 17 sites in Bitterne, Portswood, Shirley and Woolston was called-in to the scrutiny committee.

Cllr Eamonn Keogh, cabinet member for environment and transport, and senior officers faced questions at a special council meeting on Tuesday, February 11.

Scrutiny committee members asked about the impact on businesses, what factors a six-month review would consider and why it appeared the majority of consultation responses had been ignored.

The committee voted five to three to implement the new charges as planned on April 1 and not request cabinet reconsider its decision.

A public consultation on the proposals [pdf], which took place prior to the cabinet approval last month, drew 2,072 responses, with over 96% being objections.

The Labour administration has committed to carrying out a review of the changes after six months.

Cllr Keogh said this will look at the car park usage and footfall in the district centres. He confirmed that no economic assessment of businesses had taken place, adding that he was not aware of this being done with previous parking tariff changes.

“The likelihood is if we had gone to businesses and said that we are proposing to introduce charges into our suburban car parks, I would have been very surprised if the response had been anything other than we would prefer you not to,” Cllr Keogh said.

“That’s why we always have this six-month review as it enables us to assess and analyse the data.”

Conservative committee member Cllr Rob Stead said car parking charges was one of the few variables within the local authority’s remit to support district centres.

Cllr Keogh said the proposed tariffs were “modest and very reasonable”.

Members of the committee asked about the possibility of ring fencing car park income to invest back into the district centres.

There were a number of other areas, including home to school transport, concessionary bus fares and highways improvements, where money was needed, Cllr Keogh said.

Mel Creighton, executive director of enabling services, said the decision had been made in the context of there being a £39million budget gap, which was only covered through exceptional financial support from government.

“I just think it’s important to remember that’s the context and if anything is removed from one potential saving proposal/income generation efficiency, that has to be replaced by another option,” Ms Creighton said.

“None of these decisions are easy for anybody or pleasant but required to set a balanced budget which is something we have to do by law.”

Liberal Democrat scrutiny committee chair Cllr Richard Blackman asked what would have had to have been raised in the consultation to prevent the plan being approved.

He said the “repeat pattern” of large public opposition before proposals are still approved did not shed the political process in a good light.

Parking service manager Richard Alderson said that part of the purpose of the consultation was to draw out things that the council had not thought of that might make a material change or impact.

Cllr Keogh said the administration was mindful of what was in the consultation but there was a pressing concern around financial sustainability.

The cabinet member said introducing the same charges across the four suburbs was fair while acknowledging they had different characteristics.

This response came after a suggestion of maintaining some free parking in Bitterne.

The new tariffs will introduce a 50 pence charge for one and £1 for two hours, with charges in place from 8am to 8pm.

A specific permit scheme will be provided for parents of children at two schools in Bitterne and Woolston to support pick-ups and drop-offs.