Agenda item

To receive and consider a report updating Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the findings of the review on the impact of increased Pay & Display charges in Muswell Hill, Crouch End and Green Lanes after 12 months of implementation.

The Leader introduced the report as set out.  Ann Cunningham - Head of Parking – was also in attendance to address the Committee.

The Pay and Display review was undertaken following the agreement by Cabinet on 22 March 2011 to review the impact of increased parking charges after 12 months of implementation.

The Leader directed the Committee to the table on page 83 of the agenda pack which showed that post charging increase, occupancy levels for average peak time usage in Crouch End (79%), Muswell Hill (79%) and Green Lanes (70%) indicated that generally, supply was likely to be meeting demand.  The Leader also added that it had been made clear at the time of the increase that no further increases in parking charges would be made until 2014.

In response to the earlier deputation made, the Leader explained that there was no evidence to suggest an increase in conversions from A1-A3, but that this would be monitoring.

The following responses were provided to questions from the Committee:

·        All parking related signage had changed in recent years.  All signs had to meet legal requirements, but efforts had been made to make them as clear as possible within the framework.

·        The Council recognised the value and contribution of local traders in the borough and there was a commitment to working with traders to tackle any issues.  The Leader re-iterated that the result of the parking review however did not indicate that parking was an issue in the area.

·        Car ownership was lower in London, and people who lived locally would generally walk to the high street and so would not be affected by the parking charges.  Those who did drive into an area generally did not live there.  The table at paragraph 7.3 showed a comparison with neighbouring boroughs, and showed that the higher charge was not out of sync with Haringey charges.

Councillor McNamara suggested that there could be scope for an extra piece of work to be carried out on identifying spare capacity within the neighbouring Controlled Parking Zones for parking.

Councillor Adamou confirmed the views of the earlier deputation in that local traders were moving their businesses elsewhere to attract more custom.

Councillor Winskill stated that he thought the report was a good snapshot of parking movements, however the driver for the review was the impact on businesses which was a complex issue and this report did not reflect this.  The Council needed to work with traders and identify ways of encouraging people back into the areas – for example, a short period of free parking.  The Leader responded that there was already a good working relationship with local traders, but suggested that if Members felt that carrying out a further piece of work was a priority then it may be suitable for one of the Scrutiny Panels to include this on its work programme.

Councillor Jenks addressed the Committee, as the Environment spokesperson for the Liberal Democrat group in Haringey.  He referred to paragraph 1.2 of the report, where it stated that ‘the aim was to use charging as a traffic management tool to ease parking pressures…’ and questioned why there was no evidence to explain any other options that may have been explored.  Crouch End, Muswell Hill and Green Lanes were three different centres, with different needs and the parking charges should not have been increased at the same level across the board.  The charges were too expensive for Green Lanes; Muswell Hill showed a decline in shoppers, but had empty spaces; and shoppers in Crouch End had chosen not to visit the area as frequently.  Each centre needed to be looked at separately.

The Leader responded to Councillor Jenks and explained that a key driver for increasing parking charges was to ration an already limited supply of parking in the areas.  The aim was encourage people away from using cars.  Free parking had been explored a number of times, but the impact of free parking encouraged the sorts of behaviours which charged parking deterred.

RESOLVED

i)          That the results of the post implementation review of the parking charge increase be noted.

ii)         That any further scrutiny required be undertaken by the Environment and Housing Scrutiny Panel.