The Council currently operated its designated car parks under the District of Rother (Off Street) Parking Places Order 2020 (PPO).  The PPO provided a framework under which the Council could manage the car parks under its ownership and enforce parking conditions to ensure proper use.

East Sussex County Council intended to introduce Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) on 29 September 2020, which had recently been passed in Parliament. CPE would introduce charging to certain on-street parking locations throughout Bexhill, Rye and Battle, but not to other areas of the district; however, other restrictions could apply, such as double yellow line enforcement or resident permit schemes, for example.

The introduction of CPE was likely to increase the use off-street car parks under the Council’s ownership.  Residents, local businesses and visitors expected a parity of parking charges between equivalent areas, therefore it was important that the cost of off-street parking was standardised between equivalent areas of the district.

Any increase in the use of Council owned car parks would have attached associated maintenance and administration costs.  The COVID-19 pandemic had compounded what was already a challenging time for the Council’s finances, therefore any increase in the Council’s costs needed to be met by an increase in relevant charges; charges had not been increased since 2014.  Furthermore, those car parks that were presently free to use, did not contribute to the Council’s maintenance and operational costs.

The report sought authority to introduce parking charges to those car parks that fell directly within those CPE areas where on-street charges would be introduced.  It was also proposed that those car parks that were in close proximity to areas where on-street charges would apply should also have charges introduced. 

Details of the proposed variations to the PPO were at Appendix B to the report.  Since publication of the report, Members had raised specific concerns regarding the ability of local residents and business owners to park locally, given the limited on-street parking options at many locations.  Consequently, Appendix B had been amended to include the introduction of permits to all car parks where charges presently applied.

It was proposed to place a cap on the number of permits that could be awarded at each location to ensure that spaces remained available to non-permit holders.  The cost of a permit would be standardised across the district at £321.50 per annum.  Members noted that this was equivalent to the cost or an annual permit at Gibbets Marsh Rye and equated to 90p per day.  Spaces in car parks where charges would be introduced would be advertised for four weeks and allocated in order of priority: *local disabled residents, *local residents, *local businesses, other (*local was defined as those within a ¼ mile radius of the respective car park location).

Capital investment would be required to bring in charges to the car parks that were presently free to use. These costs included new signage and the introduction of payment machines; a table of estimated equipment costs was presented to Members within  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45