Agenda item

Report of the Director of Sports, Culture and Parks

Eddie Curry, Head of Parks and Open Spaces, introduced the report of the Director of Sport, Culture and Parks informing the Committee about the introduction of parking charges at the Victoria Embankment and Meadows Recreation Ground in Bridge Ward. Eddie highlighted the following:

(a)  car parking in the area has become a problem in the area, particularly by those working in West Bridgford, and those parking in the middle of the playing fields and on grass verges. There are currently no powers of control to prevent this;

(b)  consultation is currently at an informal stage with letters having been written out to 750 local residents. Formal consultation will begin on 24^th September and run until 21^st October;

(c)  one parking area will still remain free of charge, whilst some other areas, such as in front of the war memorial, will have parking banned. Parking will remain free for a period of up to one hour though this may expand to 2 hours following consultation. Parking in the evening and at weekends will remain free of charge;

The following answers were given in response to questions from the Committee:

(d)  the RingGo mobile phone payment system will be used. This reduces the need for expensive ticketing machines which are unattractive and vulnerable. 94% of car drivers are mobile users and there has been success with this system in other areas of the city;

(e)  fees can be increased at a later date if it is found that they are not deterring parked cars;

(f)  the parking restrictions will be enforced by PCSOs and the traffic management team, as well as remote cameras to identify unregistered cars;

(g)  a phased approach to implementation would be more difficult and costly to implement;

(h)  there is not an aspiration to turn the Victoria Embankment into a car park. There is a real need to manage parking in the area, as people will continue to park in the middle of playing fields and in restricted areas.

RESOLVED to

(1)  note the decision of the Corporate Director for Communities in Delegated Decision 2092 in exercise of his executive power on behalf of the Committee;

(2)  note the steps that have been taken since the above approval toward the implementation of the decision;

(3)  support the principle expressed in the order proposed to control parking on the Victoria Embankment and Meadows Recreation Ground, and to ban parking in front of the war memorial;

(4)  suggest that the scheme should charge £2 for more than 2 hours during a normal working day, between 8am and 5pm, and for more than 3 hours for blue badge holders as this would give park and play area users greater confidence in using those facilities without incurring a charge; whilst retaining the ability to run special schemes for the days or evenings of significant sporting and recreation events;

(5)  support the use of the RingGo system for managing car parking, given the high numbers of existing users and high ownership of mobile phones by car owners, given its successful operation along Crocus Street and Iremonger Road and given its ability to avoid the requirement for ticket printing and ticket display on site;

(6)  request that future variations to the proposed scheme should be brought to the Area 8 Committee for consultation.