Members considered the report of the Off-Street Car Parks Task and Finish Group (OSCPT&FG) which summarised the work and final recommendations of the Group in reviewing the impact of the introduction of Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) on the use of Rother District Council (RDC) car parks during the previous 12 months, flowing from evidence gathering, stakeholder engagement and car park data.

The OSCPT&FG met on four occasions during the six months from October 2020 to March 2021, to receive a number of presentations from officers advising on monthly car park income data and the current car park usage compared to previous years.  The OSCPT&FG reported to the OSC on 26 April 2021, recommending various changes to car park operations for onward recommendation to Cabinet.  Cabinet were supportive of the OSC’s recommendations which were subsequently actioned.

Since April 2021, the OSCPT&FG had met on a further four occasions.  The first ‘call for evidence’ from stakeholders earlier in the year had identified from the responses that it was too early in the easing of COVID-19 restrictions to make proper judgements regarding the impact of CPE. A second ‘call for evidence’ opened on Monday 3 September 2021 and closed on 8 October 2021, a period of six weeks, to give people a further opportunity to make comments.  17 responses were received and were summarised in the report.

As well as reviewing the ‘call for evidence’, discussions of the Group had centred on monitoring the use of car parks since the three ‘long stay’ car parks were in place and since the chargeable hours were brought in line across the district. Further work focused on cost and level of parking permits, impact on sports club parking and Manor Gardens car park.  

It had been noted by the Group that a more normal level of car park use was gradually returning since COVID-19 lockdown was lifted in several phases from 8 March 2021, but that car park use had only just returned to near pre-COVID-19 levels in October 2021.  The Council had seen an increase in visitors staying “all day” in many of its car parks since the introduction of CPE; however, most visitors’ duration of stay remained between 0 to 3 hours. There had been no evidence to suggest a particular car park was being overwhelmed with longer-stay users since CPE was introduced.

CPE had had a positive impact on the three town centres in terms of congestion and turnover of ‘on-street’ parking bays but had had some adverse impact on certain streets adjacent to the restricted zones and which residents and businesses had fed back to East Sussex County Council (ESCC) for considering future mitigations.

The Group had previously discussed the use of car parks adjacent to sports clubs and recommended that charges be suspended at the Polegrove (Bexhill) and Rye Salts car parks temporarily and to monitor the level of parking over a period of 12 months. The risk to free parking in these car parks was that they may become overwhelmed by non-sports users.

Councillors had been asked to encourage residents to give their feedback directly to the ESCC CPE review website, and officers used social media and MyAlerts to remind residents to respond before the deadline. This proved successful, as ESCC confirmed they received almost 1,000 responses to their annual review, a response far in excess of the usual response expected of 300.  ESCC reported that it would take time to collate and assess this number of responses and that as a result it would take longer than the normal 14 months for any changes to be implemented, depending on process and legislation required.

Attached at Appendix A was Rother’s proposed formal response to ESCC to be considered as part of their annual review. 

During discussions the following points were noted:

•           Councillor Mrs Cook who had chaired the OSCP T&FG paid tribute to the Head of Service Neighbourhood Services and her team for their work and to her fellow members of the Group;

•           Members agreed that time-limited bays were difficult to enforce and that ESCC be requested to consider extending the number of resident permit bays in their place;

•           Members requested that the signage for the Manor Gardens payment machine be improved as car park users reported not being aware of its existence; and

•           Members were impressed with the level of checks being carried out in Camber.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet be requested to consider that:

1)         the formal response to East Sussex County Council regarding the impact of Civil Parking Enforcement across the district and to inform their annual review, attached at Appendix A to the report, be approved;

2)         car park charges be suspended in The Polegrove Bexhill and Rye Salts for 12 months and then either reinstated or removed according to levels of use;

3)         on-street directional signage for long stay car parks be reviewed on a continual basis as business as usual; and

4)         recommendations on changes to car park charges remain within the annual ‘fees and charges’ report as part of the overall setting of the Council budget;

AND

RESOLVED: That: the OSCPT&FG be reconvened at a later date to review usage at Manor Gardens car park and East Sussex County Council’s response to the Civil Parking Enforcement annual review, and the Terms of Reference be amended accordingly.

(When it first became apparent, Councillors Clark, Field and Mrs Kirby-Green declared a Personal Interest in this matter as Members of East Sussex County Council and in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct remained in the meeting during the consideration thereof).

(When it first became apparent, Councillor Maynard declared a Personal Interest in this matter as an Executive Member of East Sussex County Council and in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct remained in the meeting during the consideration thereof).