St Edmundsbury Car Parking Report 2006-7

Car Parking Report 2006-7

1. Introduction

Welcome to St Edmundsbury Borough Council’s second annual car parking report.

This report highlights the developments, both on-street and off-street, in the
council’s parking service during the last financial year, details the impact of the
service and sets out future developments.

In Haverhill, the main impact has been around additional parking and the start of the
implementation of the masterplan for the town. In Bury St Edmunds, the changes
have mainly related to the Cattle Market development in the centre of the town.
There have also been important changes to the administration of the service.

In addition, the report also contains a section on the principles of charging.

2. Off-street parking

2.1 Background

The borough council is the main provider of public off-street parking in both Bury St
Edmunds and Haverhill. The council operates nine car parks in the centre of Bury St
Edmunds and five in Haverhill. All of these car parks operate on a pay and display
basis for part of each day. The exceptions to this are Risbygate Street in Bury, which
is for disabled badge holders and motorcycles only, and the Rose and Crown in
Haverhill, which is free.

Outside of the town centres there are also charges at Bury St Edmunds Leisure
Centre and Hardwick Heath. The council also manages other car parks such as
Vinery Road, East Town Park, Nowton Park and the staff car park at Western Way.

2.2 Parking activity

The location, capacity and charges for the council car parks are shown at Appendix
A. New charges were introduced across the borough on 3 April 2006. The charges in
the former Prospect Row car park were changed on 1 October so that it could be
integrated with the St Andrews Street South car park. Together, they form the new
Cattle Market car park. The charges were set after detailed consideration of the likely
impact of the Cattle Market development and comparison with charges in other
similar towns. Attached at Appendix B are details of the paid for events at each of
the car parks and the income together with a comparison for last year.

The Cattle Market development is being partly constructed on former car parks and
has resulted in the loss of around 520 parking spaces. This accounts for the
significant change in the pattern of parking events in the St Andrews Street South
car park.

The car parks were also renamed as detailed below. These changes were made in
anticipation of the introduction of variable message signing (VMS):

Former name New name

St Andrews Street South/ Prospect Row Cattle Market
Parkway (surface and decked) Parkway
Robert Boby Way Robert Boby
St Andrews Street North St Andrews
Ram Meadow Ram Meadow
Shire Hall Shire Hall
Risbygate Street/ Nelson Road Risbygate
Lower Baxter Street Lower Baxter

2.3 Excess charges

Excess Charge Notices (ECNs) are issued for offences in the car parks. These include
where no ticket is displayed, a driver has parked outside a marked bay or their ticket
has expired. The excess charge increased on 3 April 2006 to £50 (discounted to £20
if paid within seven days). Previously the charge was £40 (discounted to £12 for
early payment).

In 2006-7, St Edmundsbury issued 10,658 ECNs, of which 1400 were waived either
on appeal or the vehicle owner could not be traced. A new policy on appeals against
excess charges was introduced and included an important change to the grounds for
appeal. ECNs are no longer cancelled if they have been issued for the offence of
failure to display and a valid ticket is later produced. Details of the grounds for
appeal are set out at Appendix C.

2.4 New developments

Town Hall car park, Haverhill

The new 100 space annexe

(formerly the Cleales site) to the
Town Hall car park in Haverhill
opened on 25 September 2006. This
provides important additional
parking in the centre of town. The
continued growth of Haverhill has
put pressure on the existing town
centre parking resource.

Ehringshausen Way, Haverhill

Work started on the Jubilee Walk environmental enhancement scheme in Haverhill.

This project includes alterations to the neighbouring Ehringshausen Way car park. As
part of the project, the disabled bays are being remodelled and the car park
completely resurfaced.

Haverhill Leisure Centre

Work began on constructing a new 96-space car park on former tennis courts next to
the leisure centre in Haverhill. This was carried out in anticipation of the proposed
multi-screen cinema to be built next to the leisure centre.

Car park signing

A programme to roll out new ‘house signs’ to all the

council car parks began with the annexe to the Town
Hall car park.

Sunday charges

Charges for parking on Sunday were introduced to

most car parks in Bury St Edmunds on 3 April 2006
(see Appendix A for details). The charges, where
applicable, are 20p an hour between 10am and 4pm.
At the same time charges were introduced in on-
street areas between 1pm and 4pm.
Cattle Market development, Bury St Edmunds

The Cattle Market development has had an impact on the main short stay car park in
Bury St Edmunds. Construction began on site in December 2006, but before this,
major alternations needed to be made to the existing car parks. Other work also
needed to be carried out. This included changing the routes of electricity cables and
water mains, integrating the car parks at St Andrews Street South and Prospect Row,
making redundant areas available for car parking, changing entrance and exit
arrangements and removing unnecessary parking equipment.

During these works as many parking spaces as possible were kept available to the
public. As a result, there was some disruption caused to some of the people who use
the car parks. The council is grateful for their patience during this time.

Risbygate Street car park, Bury St Edmunds

Around half of the spaces in the Risbygate Street car park were allocated to the
Cattle Market development. Because the disabled spaces on the former St Andrews
Street South car park were lost, the remaining spaces on the Risbygate car park
have been allocated to blue badge holders only, together with an area for motorcycle
parking.

Ram Meadow extension, Bury St Edmunds

The coach and bus parking area at the Ram

Meadow car park in Bury St Edmunds has
been converted to car parking. This new area
also includes some larger bays specifically for
the use of mobile homes. These have been
widely welcomed by touring visitors who have
previously had difficulty finding large enough
parking spaces and received extensive
positive publicity through the specialist press.

Coach parking has been relocated to the lorry

park on the eastern side of the town.

Variable message signs (VMS), Bury St Edmunds

In December 2006 a series of variable message signs were installed in Bury St

Edmunds. These cover the main public car parks and give drivers up-to-date
information on the availability and location of parking in the town. The data this
system records will also help plan future developments in car parking as it will enable
the council to monitor peak periods more effectively and trigger appropriate
interventions to deal with parking shortages.

In order to introduce these signs in time for the peak Christmas parking demand
period a temporary control arrangement was put in place. This resulted in some
initial teething problems, but these have now mostly been resolved and the system
has proved very resilient in operation.
Seasonal park and ride, Bury St Edmunds

The temporary park and ride service introduced in conjunction with the annual
Christmas Fayre was extended to all Saturdays in December 2006 to reflect the extra
demand for parking at this time. The service operated from two sites between 10am
and 6pm. A single site operation also ran on the two Saturdays of the February
school half term holiday and a further operation for Easter 2007 is planned.

The impact of these services is currently being assessed to determine the operational
benefit of this provision.

St Edmundsbury House, Bury St Edmunds

The staff car park at St Edmundsbury House in Western Way was under increasing
pressure from unauthorised parking. This included use by the staff of other
businesses in the area, college students and visitors to nearby sports facilities. This
was resulting in inconvenience to staff and visitors. As a result, a traffic regulation
order was introduced to prevent unauthorised parking between 8am and 4pm on
Monday to Friday. Outside of these hours, the car park is available to the public.

Olding Road Car Park, Bury St Edmunds

The first phase of the Public Service Village at Western Way will result in the loss of
most of the existing car parking on this site. To accommodate staff needs, a new car
park has been constructed on Olding Road (behind the existing building). This pay
and display car park will also be available to the public.

Park Mark award, Parkway multi-storey, Bury St Edmunds

In January 2007, the Parkway multi-storey car park was given a Park Mark award.
This is a national award made as part of the Safer Parking Scheme run by the British
Parking Association and local police forces. The award is made to car parks which
not only satisfy safety criteria, but drivers also say they feel safe using.
3. On-street parking

3.1 Background

The council looks after three areas of charged on-street parking in Bury St Edmunds.
The charges and hours of operation are set out below:

Location Charging period Charges

Angel Hill Monday to 70p for up to 30 minutes

Saturday £1.10 for up to one hour
8am to 6pm £2.10 for up to two hours
Sunday 20p an hour
1pm to 4pm
Cornhill/ Buttermarket Monday, Tuesday, 80p for up to 30 minutes
Thursday and Friday
8am to 6pm £1.30 for up to one hour
Sunday 20p an hour
1pm to 4pm
South town centre Monday to Saturday 20p for up to 30 minutes
9am to 6pm 80p for up to one hour
£2.00 for up to two hours
Sunday 20p an hour
1pm to 4pm

The number of on-street parking events which have taken place and the income they
have generated is detailed in Appendix B.

The council also manages eight residents’ parking zones in Bury St Edmunds and one
in Haverhill.

Bury St Edmunds

Zone A – South Brackland area

Zone B – Northgate Street
Zone C – Nelson Road
Zone D – South Town Centre
Zone E – Castle Road
Zone F – Southgate Street area
Zone G – Broadway/ Mustow Street
Zone H – Victoria Street area (experimental)

Haverhill

Zone A – Eden Road/ Duddery Road/ Waveney Terrace

Appendix D sets out the charges and number of permits issued for each zone. The
charged areas and residents’ permit zones are administered by St Edmundsbury on
behalf of Suffolk County Council. The county council retains the income from these
schemes, less St Edmundsbury’s administration costs.
Sunday charges were introduced to the on-street charged areas at the same time as
the off-street car parks. The charges apply between 1pm and 4pm at a rate of 20p
an hour.

As agents to Suffolk County Council, the borough also deals with traffic management
issues in Bury St Edmunds. This often involves the introduction of waiting restrictions
or other changes to on-street parking arrangements.

3.2 Residents’ parking schemes

Zone A – South Brackland area, Bury St Edmunds

As a result of concerns expressed to the council, a review of the days and hours of
operation of this scheme was carried out. The majority of the respondents opted not
to change the hours of operation or extend it to Sundays. Permit-only parking will
continue to operate on Monday to Saturday between 10am and 4pm.

Zone H – Victoria Street area, Bury St Edmunds

Residents of the Victoria Street area rely heavily on on-street parking for both their
needs and those of their visitors. Commuters and students of the nearby college
have also been parking in the area. In view of this pressure on parking, residents
were experiencing problems parking near their homes during the day. Following
detailed consultation with the local community, an experimental residents’ parking
zone was introduced to Victoria Street and the neighbouring streets on 1 May 2006.
This experimental scheme is being reviewed to determine if residents wish it to be
made permanent. A plan of the experimental zone is shown at Appendix E.

North Brackland area, Bury St Edmunds

The North Brackland area of Bury St Edmunds is similar to the Victoria Street area
discussed above and attracts significant numbers of commuters looking to park all
day for free. St Edmundsbury has been investigating the possibility of introducing a
residents’ parking scheme in this area. Early indications are that the residents
support such a scheme. A plan of the area is included at Appendix F.

3.3 On-street parking review

Disabled parking bays

In recognition of the increasing number of people with mobility problems who are
visiting Bury St Edmunds town centre, additional disabled bays have been provided
on Angel Hill. These complement the spaces in the Risbygate car park (detailed in
2.3 above).

Local parking investigations

Parking concerns have been investigated in the following locations (all in Bury St
Edmunds):
Alicia Court
Barn Lane
Beech Rise
Chalk Road
Cotton Lane (two locations)
Dettingen Way
Eastern Way
Grove Road
Hanover Close
Hardwick Lane
High Baxter Street
Hospital Road
Kings Road
Mill Road
Norman Road
Oliver Road
Philip Road
Raingate Street
Springfield Road
Well Street
West Road
Westbury Avenue
Westgate Street
York Road

3.3 On-street funding

For a number of years, Suffolk County Council has invited bids for schemes to be
funded from the surplus generated by on-street parking charges. In 2006–7 the
borough council was successful in winning funding for the following initiatives:

Christmas park and ride: £4500 towards the cost of operating a seasonal park
and ride in Bury St Edmunds at Christmas.

Green travel coordinator: £15,000 contribution towards employing a green travel

coordinator to work, initially, on travel issues around the Public Service Village and
Cattle Market development.

Kings Road one way scheme: £110,000 to implement the proposal to make Kings
Road in Bury St Edmunds one way between St Andrews Street South and Prospect
Row.

De-criminalised parking: £10,000 towards a feasibility study around

decriminalising parking enforcement in the borough.

Mildenhall Road pedestrian crossing: £20,000 for improvements to pedestrian

crossing facilities in Mildenhall Road, Bury St Edmunds, near to the Somerfield
supermarket.
Bury St Edmunds transport study: £25,000 for detailed studies around the
recommendations arising from the Bury St Edmunds transport study.
4. Administration

4.1 General

The car parks service is managed by five administration staff (four full time
equivalents) supported by ten parking attendants (seven full time equivalents). The
service cost £1,628,850 to run during 2006-7 (this includes all costs associated with
the car parks, such as asset rent and maintenance) and generated an income of
£2,892,233.

4.2 Automated call handling

To improve customer service an automated call handling system has been installed
to enable 24 hour access to the payment system to settle excess charges. This has
also significantly reduced staff call handling needs.

4.3 Decriminalised parking enforcement

Decriminalised parking enforcement involves the local authority taking over most of
the police parking enforcement powers. A business case for the borough council to
take on this role is currently being prepared and will be considered in detail by the
council shortly.
5. Principles of charging

The provision of accessible, high quality car parking is an

important factor in the economic success of the town
centres of both Bury St Edmunds and Haverhill. The council
recognises this and has invested significant capital
resources in the acquisition of land and the construction of
car parks in the town centres.

As a result, it is appropriate that a suitable return on this

investment is recovered from the people using the facilities.
These people are not always residents of the borough. It is
also important to note that many of St Edmundsbury’s
Council Tax payers are not car owners and would get no
direct benefit from the provision of free parking. A recent
survey showed 87 percent of people think the car parks
should be funded by those using them and not from
Council Tax.

Charging also allows the council to manage the available car parking more efficiently.
Free parking would see the commuters, office and shop workers, who access the
town earliest in the morning, taking the most prized spaces closest to the town
centre for the majority of the day. This would leave the less convenient car parks for
shoppers and others who wish to visit the town for shorter periods. St
Edmundsbury’s charging scale is calculated on the basis that the most convenient car
parks have the highest prices for long periods and the less convenient the lowest.
This encourages those who work in the town, and other long stay visitors, to use the
less convenient car parks, leaving the car parks which are closer to the town centre
for shoppers and visitors who may be staying for shorter periods. Similar principles
are also applied to the charges for on-street parking which are set in consultation
with Suffolk County Council.

Charging also encourages people to use other modes of transport, such as buses.

The council offers discounted season tickets in its long stay car parks in both Bury St
Edmunds and Haverhill for the benefit of those who may work in the towns.

The surplus raised through parking charges is used to fund services such as closed
circuit television (CCTV), which St Edmundsbury would otherwise have to fund from
additional Council Tax or not be able to provide.

The charges for residents’ parking permits are set to reflect the cost of setting up,
administering and enforcing the zones. These charges are regularly reviewed to
make sure that deficits do not occur. As there is no benefit to the wider community,
residents’ parking zones are not subsidised from the general Council Tax fund.
6. Future initiatives

Park and ride, Haverhill

Alongside partners at Cambridgeshire County, Suffolk County and South

Cambridgeshire District councils, work into the travel patterns along the A1307
between Haverhill and Cambridge has been carried out. Developing an express bus
service is a possible initiative which would reduce traffic along this corridor. A study
into the potential benefits and impact of such a service has been commissioned.

Park and ride/ shuttle bus, Bury St Edmunds

As a result of the Bury St Edmunds Transport Study, an investigation will be carried

out into the feasibility and implications of introducing a shuttle bus service. This
service would operate between key destinations (for example the town centre, West
Suffolk Hospital and the Public Service Village in Western Way) and dedicated car
parks on the edge of the town near to the A14 interchanges.

Back office systems

New software to improve administration will be introduced early in the new financial
year. This will integrate existing systems into a single system and provide more
detailed management information. As part of this programme, parking attendants
will be given new hand held devices to help with their enforcement activities. These
will mean more detailed information can be recorded about the offence. This
additional evidence will assist in dealing with excess charge appeals. New digital
cameras will also be issued to also help capture evidence of offences committed.

Pay and display machines

A number of the council’s pay and display machines are reaching the end of their
useful life. A programme of machine replacement has been approved and the roll out
will begin in Haverhill. Most of the council’s machines will be replaced over the next
year.

Rose and Crown car park, Haverhill

The Rose and Crown car park in Haverhill is currently free. Areas are allocated to the
public, customers of the adjacent public house and staff at the nearby council
offices. An investigation into the use and management of this car park will be
undertaken with a view to improving the way it is used and the turn over of spaces.

St Andrews car park, Bury St Edmunds

As part of the car parking strategy adopted by the council in response to the Cattle
Market development, the St Andrews car park will be converted to short stay.
Currently it is a hybrid medium/ long stay car park.
New car park next to Haverhill Leisure Centre

The proposed multi-screen cinema in Haverhill will mean some of the existing leisure
centre car parking will be lost. A new car park is being constructed on redundant
tennis courts and will open early in the new financial year.