Civil Enforcement Report 2014-15

Introduction

Strategy & Policy

Parking Provision in Pembrokeshire

Our Services

Civil Parking Enforcement

Performance Delivery & Statistics

Financial Information

Update on 2019/20 Initiatives

Future Development & Initiatives

Appendix 1: Resident and Shared Parking Schemes

Introduction

By Councillor Rob Lewis,

Cabinet Spokesperson for Highways, Planning, Transportation and Major Events

This is the Fourth annual report which we have published, in accordance with the requirements of the Traffic Management Act 2004. Its aim is to provide information about how Pembrokeshire County Council delivers its parking enforcement and associated services and to place the service in context with our other road network management duties and policies.

We continue to enforce parking restrictions both on and off street on all roads in the County and in all car parks owned by the Council. This report covers the period from 1st April 2014 to 31 March 2015.

If you have any questions or comments regarding our Parking Annual Report, please let us know by telephoning on 01437 764551 or emailing us at parking@pembrokeshire.gov.uk. Thank you for taking the time to read our 2014-15 Parking Annual Report.

Strategy and Policy

Background

The Strategic Vision in the Council’s Corporate & Improvement Plan emphasises the promotion of an attractive, clean and healthy environment and the Regional Transport Plan gives recognition that traffic management plays an important part in ensuring safe, effective and rational use of the highway.

Charging Policy

An amended Car Parking Charging Policy was approved by Cabinet on 6 October 2014 and will need further revision following decisions made at Cabinet on 7 July 20015 (following resolution to introduce new charges at certain non-charging car parks). Charges for car parking take account of the following principles.

The need to encourage retail trade;
The need to manage traffic, including on-street parking and traffic flows;
The need to manage demand effectively;
The nature of parking location and its users, i.e. urban shopper/business, residential, rural town shopper, beach/visitor;
Comparison with other providers in the locality;
The need to encourage the use of more sustainable forms of transport, including public transport;
Charges are not set purely in order to derive income;
Have regard to the overall revenue budget provision (expenditure and income) for car parks;
A presumption in favour of improvements being funded by increased tariff.

These principles are applied consistently, which results in different charges from place to place.

Demand Management

Car parking charges have been considered on a location by location basis. Car parking charges in Pembrokeshire are set to encourage shoppers, and are likely to require short-stay spaces. Where car parking is subject to high demand and/or limited capacity, then parking periods and tariffs are carefully set to optimise turnover

Parking Provision in Pembrokeshire

Off Street

The Authority manages car parks to provide for both short stay and long stay users. Charges apply in accordance with Council Policy.

Disabled provision is in accordance with the guidance issued by DfT.

On Street

The Authority provides on street parking facilities on the adopted public highway where it is considered appropriate to do so without undue interference with moving traffic. It makes provision for limited waiting, disabled, loading, taxi, motor cycles and residents.
It has developed robust and fair practices to manage the kerb side to cater for the competing demands of the various users. No restrictions have been implemented that do not have a traffic regulation order to support them.

Our Services

Off Street Parking

The Council has both charging and non charging Carparks; Details are on the council website www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk. Pembrokeshire County Council has 97 car parks of which 32 are pay and display. 18 have charges applying all year round and 14 seasonal charges.
Between 1st April 2014 and 31st March 2015 the following were issued

120 season tickets
107 reserved bays permits
134 Tenby Harbour permits.

A minimum of 6% of spaces have been set aside for blue badge holders. The Council waived charges on certain days in December in the lead up to Christmas in all paying car parks through the County.

On Street

There are currently 840 limited waiting spaces, 127 disabled spaces, 33 Taxi spaces, 3 Bus bays, 26 bays for Loading / Goods unloading bays, 1 ambulance bay and 1 motorcycle bay. Within the overall spaces there remain 668 spaces for Resident / Business Permit Holders.

Resident Parking

Resident Parking Schemes have been introduced, where practicable, on a number of streets/locations across the County. There are currently 58 schemes in operation, full list on Appendix 1 All schemes on the public highway are operated under the same regulations, one permit to a property to a specific vehicle. Permits are valid for a period of up to 12 months. A cost of a permit is £40.00. Visitor permits are available for periods of up to 7 days at a cost of £20.00, again one to a property to a specific vehicle. Proof of occupancy, valid insurance and MOT certificate must be provided.

A non-highway scheme is operated in Tenby Harbour where one permit is issued to each property but is not vehicle specific. Cost of a permit is £100 and has not risen since 2003. There were 873 annual permits issued between 1st April 2014 to 31st March 2015 and 220 visitor permits.

Parking Dispensations

The Council does allow, in certain circumstances, by the issue of a dispensation, a vehicle to park lawfully in contravention of a Traffic Regulation order. It may also suspend parking places for the purposes of reserving those places for particular vehicles and/or applicants.
Dispensations will be issued by way of a temporary permit containing the details of the event, the vehicle registration, date and time of use. The permit must be clearly displayed on the front windscreen of the approved vehicle.

133 dispensations were issued 1st April 2014 - 31st March 2015.

Civil Parking Enforcement

Parking and Streetcare Teams

Combining the management and enforcement of both on and off street parking provides considerable operational and community benefits. In April 2013 the Parking service team and streetcare team were combined under one operational manager. Both sections still have their own remit, however, the benefits of this combined service includes:

Co-ordinated enforcement and control of on and off street parking
Co-ordinated enforcement of all highway related issues
Co-ordination of activities on the highway network
Management and co-ordination of event affecting on street and off street activities
Co-ordination of third party works on the highway
Managing all licensed activities on and off street
More effective implementation of policies

Running CPE

Pembrokeshire currently employs 12 Civil Enforcement Officers, 2 Technical Clerks and 3 Parking Services Officers; they are all supported by the Streetcare and Parking Manager. They do not receive any performance related bonuses or incentives.

Penalty charge notices are issued to vehicles that are parking in contravention of restrictions. If a motorist wishes to dispute a PCN they must follow the appeal process which is detailed on the rear of the PCN.
Having operated CPE since February 2011 the Parking Services staff has built up a comprehensive understanding of where and when indiscriminate parking occurs. However, when members of the public are experiencing particular parking problems they can report them to the office.

The parking services team are also responsible for the management of all car parks, Pay and Display machines, financial matters, Resident Permits, Car Park Season and Reserved Tickets, Parking Dispensations and Car Park Licenses.

The Back Office - Wales Penalty Processing Partnership (Wales PPP)

The Wales PPP back office continues to be used to process the issued PCN’s. There are quarterly meetings, an officers working group, with representatives from each Partner Authority to discuss operational consistency, shares best practice and strives for continual efficiency savings.

Enforcement Agents

The Council currently uses the services of four bailiff companies to recover debts, Excel, Proserve, Swift and A J Enforcement. All have considerable experience in this work and provide similar services to other Wales PPP councils as well as our SWWITCH partners Carmarthenshire County Council, City & County of Swansea and Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council.

Performance Delivery & Statistics

Statistical Performance

The tables below show statistics relating to PCN’s issued during the period 1st April 2014 to 31st March 2015.

PCN’s - Progression of Cases

Description	PCN's issued	%
Number of PCN’s issued on street	6505	51%
Number of PCN’s issued off street	6396	49%
Number of PCN’s paid at discount rate	8917	69%
Number of PCN’s paid after 14 days	1590	12%
Number of PCN’s not paid	1164	9%
Number of PCN’s cancelled (see table 6.5)	1230	10%
Total Number of PCN’s issued	12901	-

On Street Parking Contraventions

Code	Description	PCN's issued	%
01	Parked in a restricted street during prescribed hours	1841	14%
02	Parked or loading/unloading in a restricted street where waiting and loading/unloading restrictions are in force	149	1%
12	Parked in a residents or shared use parking place without clearly displaying a permit issued for that place	1844	14%
16	Parked in a permit space without displaying a valid permit	11	-
18	Using a vehicle in a parking place in connection with the sale or offering or exposing for sale of goods when prohibited.	0	0.9%
20	Parked in a loading gap marked by a yellow line	0	0%
21	Parked in a suspended bay or part of a bay	60	0.5%
23	Parked in a parking place not designated for that class of vehicle	294	2.3%
25	Parked in a loading place during restricted hours without loading	70	0.6%
26	Vehicle parked more than 50cms from edge of carriageway and not within designated parking place	34	0.26%
27	Parked adjacent to a dropped footway	248	2%
40	Parked in a designated disabled person parking place without clearly displaying a valid disabled persons badge	443	3.5%
45	Parked on a taxi rank	84	0.65%
46	Stopping where prohibited	2	0.01%
47	Stopped in a restricted bus stop	42	0.3%
48	Stopped in a restricted area outside a school	0	0%
49	Parked wholly or partly on a cycle track	4	0.03%
56	Parked in contravention of a commercial vehicle waiting restriction	0	0%
62	Parked with one or more wheels on part of the road other than between two carriageways	0	0%
99	Stopped on a pedestrian crossing or area marked by zigzags	7	0.05%
05	Parked after the expiry of paid for time	2	0.01%
06	Parked without clearly displaying a valid pay & display ticket or voucher	7	0.05%
11	Parked without payment of the parking charge	0	0%
19	Parked in a resident or shared use place displaying an invalid permit	0	0.01%
22	Re-parked in the same parking place within one hour of leaving	1	0.01%
24	Not parked correctly within the markings of a bay/space	19	0.14%
30	Parked for longer than permitted	1299	10%

Off Street Parking Contraventions

Code	Description	PCN's issued	%
70	Parked in a loading area during restricted hours	0	0%
73	Parked without payment of the parking charge	2	0.01%
74	Using a vehicle in a parking place in connection with the sale or offering or exposing for sale goods when prohibited	2	0.01%
80	Parking for longer than the maximum period permitted	39	0.3%
81	Parked in a restricted area in a car park	18	0.14%
82	Parked after the expiry of paid for time	1580	12%
83	Parked in a car park without clearly displaying a valid pay and display ticket or voucher or parking clock	3682	28.5%
85	Parked in a permit bay without displaying a valid permit	317	2.5%
86	Parked beyond the bay markings	330	2.6%
87	Parked in a disabled persons parking space without clearly displaying a valid disabled persons badge	443	3.4%
89	Vehicle parked exceeds max weight / height / length of area	0	0%
91	Parked in a car park not designated for that class of vehicle	12	0.1%
92	Parking causing an obstruction	1	0.01%
94	Parked in a pay and display car park without displaying two valid pay and display tickets when required	1	0.01%
95	Parked in a parking place for a purpose other than the designated purpose of the parking place.	11	0.1%

PCN's Cancelled

No of PCN's cancelled as a result of formal representations challenge accepted Total: 1018 (8%)
Number of PCN’s cancelled for other reasons (e.g. owner untraceable, CEO error, DVLA unable to provide details): 212 (2%)

Comparision

Number of PCN's issued: 11866 (2013-14) 12901 (2014-15)
Number of PCN’s on street: 6138 (2013-14) 6505 (2014-15)
Number of PCN’s off street: 5728 (2013-14) 6396 (2014-15)
Number of PCN’s cancelled as %: 14% (2013-14) 10% (2014-15)

Adjudications decisions made at Traffic Penalty Tribunal

Total number: 25 (2013-14) 25 (2014-15)
Appeal dismissed: 20 (80%) (2013-14) 21 (84%) (2014-15)
Appeal accepted: 5 (20%) (2013-14) 4 (16%) (2014-15)

Financial Information

Financial Account

Income and expenditure financial data governed by Section 55 of the Road Traffic Regulations Act 1984 is presented below.

Income	2013-14	2014-15
Resident Parking Permits (Includes Resident and Visitor)	£31,375	£38,316
Parking Dispensations	£6,228	£8,970
Penalty Charges	£365,564	£398,465
Total Income	£403,167.00	£445,752.00

Expenditure	2013-14	2014-15
Employee Costs	£226,990	£205,775
Premises	£45,699	£41,460
Goods & Services	£65,432	£16,552
Support & Management	£95,492	£99,535
Other Payments	£0	£47,565
Capital Charges	£6,964	£6,946
Total Expenditure	£440,557	£417,851
(Surplus) / Deficit	£37,410.00	(£27,901.00)

The financial information provided for this report does not include the off-street activity not governed by the Road Traffic Regulations Act 1984.

Future Development & Initiatives

In 2015/16 a number of initiatives will be considered, either following on from last year’s activity and issues arising or new initiatives, as follows:

Review condition of Haverfordwest Multi Storey car park
Introduce charges into an additional 6 car parks
Review current role of Civil Parking enforcement officers
Review existing Civil Enforcement officer handheld equipment
Report on the impact of the charges to be presented to Cabinet and a further review of car park charges
Continue works on Pembroke Dock Interchange
Expand car parking facility at Goodwick railway station
Review all current Permits

Appendix 1: Resident and Shared Parking Schemes

Broad Haven

Marine Road -west side

Dale

U6006 Dale Fort Road - east side

Fishguard

Fishguard
Wallis Street –east side
Coronation Avenue

Haverfordwest

Bush Row -east side
Albany Terrace - parking area
Cambrian Place - east Side
Cartlett -north side
Castle Town Area
North Street - west side
North Street -east side
Holloway -north side
Queens Square - central area
Crowhill -east side
Merlins Hill –north side
Hill Street
North Crescent - west side
Winch Crescent - south side

Milford Haven

Milford Haven
Robert Street - north and south side

Neyland

Neyland
Neyland Hill -south side

Pembroke

Woodbine Terrace - south side

Pembroke Dock

Apley Terrace - south side
Bush Street - north and south side
Church Street – west and east side
Gordon Street - west side
Gwyther Street -west and east side
Laws Street - west and east side
Lewis Street – west and east side
Pembroke Street - west and east side
Upper Laws Street - west and east side
Upper Meyrick Street - west and east side

Tenby

Augustus Place (serving Nos. 1-10) & (serving Nos. 11-18)
Clareston Road - west and south side
Culver Park –west and east side
Greenhill Avenue –west and east side
Weston Terrace -west side
Harding Street –north and south side
Harries Street -west side
Heywood Court -west side
Heywood Court - Nos. 74-85 north side Nos.48-64 south side
Lower Frog Street -east side
Park Place -north and south side
Edward Street -south east side
Park Terrace - south east side
Penally Road - east side
Picton Road - west and east side
Picton Terrace - west side
Queens Parade -west side
South Cliff Street -north side
St Florence Parade - east side
St Johns Hill -north side
St Julian’s Street -north west side
Sutton Street - east side
The Croft - east side
The Norton -east side
The Paragon - south side
Trafalgar Road - north west and south east side
Victoria Street - west and east side
Warren Street - south side

Shared Use Bay (Limited Waiting 1 hour, no return within 1 hour, Mon-Sat 8am-6pm / Permit holders)

Pembroke Dock

Meyrick Street -west side

Shared Use Bay (Limited Waiting 1 hour, no return within 1 hour 8am – 6pm / Permit holders)

Haverfordwest

Holloway - north side

North Street -east side

Queens Square -central area

St Davids

New Street –east side

Parking in Pembrokeshire