Agenda item

Car Park Charges Review

Meeting of Cabinet, Monday, 31st January, 2022 10.00 am (Item 206.)

Summary:

Options considered:

Car parking income represents a significant income source to the Council and as such has a substantial contribution to make to the Council’s longer term financial sustainability and helping to set and maintain a balanced budget.

There are significant costs associated with a range of Council services which support the tourism economy, with provision of public conveniences, foreshore activities, parks, open spaces and woodlands representing a combined annual revenue spend in excess of £2.2m. It is appropriate for the costs of these services to be met in part by various fees and charges as they form an integral part of the visitor experience. These are all discretionary areas of spend but help to ensure that our district remains a beautiful place both to live and work in but also to visit, it is however becoming increasingly difficult to support all of these areas in the current financial climate.

The current Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) projections for future years are still projecting budget deficits of around £2.5m by 2025/26 in the midst of continuing uncertainty regarding the Fair Funding and Business Rates reviews. The Council must therefore consider all available options to generate additional income and reduce costs wherever possible.

Car park charges have not been increased since July 2016. This report considers the current car park fees and charges and provides the Cabinet with an opportunity to consider changes to the fee structure as appropriate.

At their meeting on 12 January 2022 Overview and Scrutiny Committee were provided with an opportunity to pre-scrutinise the officer report to consider the range of potential options prior to any consideration by Cabinet and the recommendations from the Committee are therefore now included within this report for further consideration.

A number of options are considered within the report as follows;

1. Do nothing – the Council could opt to do nothing and not change the current fees and charges.

2. Alternatively the report considers a number of different proposals to fee structures for potential introduction from July 2022.

Conclusions:

As one of the Council’s largest external income sources car parking charges have a significant contribution to make in terms of the Council’s financial sustainability in the medium to long term. Financial Sustainability and Growth is one of six key themes within the Corporate Plan and links directly with objective 2.2 of the Delivery Plan.

The Council incurs significant levels of expenditure on discretionary service areas which help to ensure that our district remains a beautiful place both to live and work in but also to visit, it is however becoming increasingly difficult to support all of these areas in the current financial climate. These costs cover a range of Council services which support the tourism economy, from provision of public conveniences, maintenance and operation of Cromer pier, foreshore activities, parks, open spaces and woodlands which represent a combined annual revenue spend in excess of £2.2m. It is appropriate therefore for the costs of these services to be met in part by various fees and charges as they form an integral part of the visitor experience.

There are clearly multiple variations on the possible range of pricing options and initiatives for car parks. Due to the nature of parking charges and for simplicity it is best to make any increases to the nearest 10p. Even a relatively modest annual increase of 3.5% from 2016 would have increased the hourly charge at our ‘Coastal’ car parks from £1.50 per to £1.84 (unrounded) by April 2022.

To ensure that this and other key income streams are given enough focus in terms of growth, improvement and efficiency to support the Council’s medium and longer term budget position and to strengthen day to day car park management to minimise losses by more timely resolution of machine breakdowns etc, Cabinet are invited to consider and comment on the issue of resource for improved management of the service.

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee have pre-scrutinised the officer report and their recommendations are included as part of this updated report for further consideration by Cabinet.

Recommendations:

Reasons for

Recommendations:

Cabinet consider the options and proposals contained within this report and make recommendations to Full Council on;

· the preferred way forward in terms of pricing changes so that these changes can be considered as part of the budget setting process for 2022/23 and inform the future financial strategy;

· changes to car park designations as outlined within the report;

· implementing any new pricing changes from July 2022 and instigating the Car Park order (CPO) consultation process;

· budgetary provision of £25k to cover implementation costs resulting from any changes.

Car parking income needs to be considered against the context of our discretionary service provision which people value but which is often difficult to charge for, such as we public conveniences, the seafront environment and Blue Flag beaches, beach lifeguards, additional street cleansing, litter bins etc. It is becoming increasingly more difficult for the Council to continue to provide these services at the level expected by local residents, businesses and tourist visitors from Council Tax payers alone. Further to this it is not fair or equitable across the District as a whole and doesn’t operate under the ‘user pays’ principle.

Car park charges have not increased since July 2016, there are a number of options that Members need to consider in relation to any potential changes to the car park fees and charges so that any alterations can be implemented through a new Car Park Order (CPO). Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee were given the opportunity to pre-scrutinise the officer report ahead of consideration and their recommendations are included now for further consideration.

LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS AS REQUIRED BY LAW

(Papers relied on to write the report, which do not contain exempt information and which are not published elsewhere)

Cabinet Member(s); Cllr Eric Seward

Ward(s) affected; All

Contact Officer, telephone number and email: Duncan Ellis, 01263 516330, duncan.ellis@north-norfolk.gov.uk

Decision:

Decision

RESOLVED

To make the following recommendations to Full Council:

1. That the following pricing structure should be introduced:

Standard tariff car parks - £1.20p for first two hours, 80 pence for each further hour and a day rate of £6.00. No change to 30 minute rate.

Resort tariff car parks - £1.50 for the first hour, £1.20p for each further hour, and a day rate of £8.5. No change to 30 minute charge.

Coastal tariff car parks - £1.80 per hour and a day rate of £8.50

Holt Country Park - £2.30 per day

Coaches – 24 hour stay £12, 4 hour stay - £6

2. That the following changes to car park designations should be made:

Sheringham, Chequers car park moves to ‘Coastal’ from ‘Resort’ and that Sheringham, Station Approach car park moves to ‘Resort’ from ‘Coastal’

3. The implementation of any new pricing changes from July 2022 and instigating the Car Park order (CPO) consultation process;

4. Budgetary provision of £25k to cover implementation costs resulting from any changes.

5. That a report is brought back to Cabinet setting out a promotional campaign to increase the take-up of car park season tickets

6. That a report is brought back to Cabinet setting out how the car park management arrangements can be strengthened.

Reasons for the decision:

Minutes:

The Portfolio Holder for Finance & Assets, Cllr E Seward, introduced this item. He began by thanking the Overview & Scrutiny Committee for their input and the officers for their work in preparing the report. He said that the last review of car parking charges had taken place in 2016 and that any proposed changes would come into effect from July 2022. Cllr Seward said that the Council had a tourist economy which involved significant costs to run and maintain. This ranged from the provision of public conveniences and the maintenance and operation of Cromer Pier, foreshore activities, parks, open spaces and woodlands. Together this represented a combined revenue spend in excess of £2.2m. It was therefore appropriate to for the costs of these services to be met in part by various fees and charges as they formed an integral part of the visitor experience. He then spoke about the forecast deficit of £2.5m for 2024/25. All options for raising income must therefore be considered.

Cllr Seward said that Cabinet was mindful of the increase in the cost of living and the impact on local families and it was therefore proposed to support the recommendation of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee to limit any increase in car parking charges in line with the consumer price index (CPI) rate of inflation.

Cllr Seward outlined the following proposed changes to car parking charges:

For standard tariff car parks, a charge of£1.20p for first two hours and 80 pence for each further hour, with a day rate of £6.00. there would be no change to the 30 minute rate. For resort tariff car parks, a charge of £1.50 for the first hour, £1.20p for each further hour, and a day rate of £8.50. There would be no change to the 30 minute charge.

For coastal tariff car parks the charge would be £1.80 per hour and a day rate of £8.50. For Holt Country Park, the charge would be increased to £2.30 per day. For all car parks, coaches would pay £12 for a 24 hour stay and £6.00 for a 4 hour stay.

Cllr Seward then spoke about changes to car park designations. It was proposed that Sheringham, Chequers car park would move to ‘Coastal’ from ‘Resort’ and that Sheringham, Station Road would move to ‘Resort’ from ‘Coastal’. As mentioned previously, any changes would come into effect from July 2022.

Cllr Seward said that there was no proposal to increase season tickets. He said that Cabinet believed that it was important to help residents during the current challenging economic times. He said that over 80% of season ticket permits were purchased by residents of North Norfolk. A 24 hour / 7 day annual permit worked out at 55 pence a day, with a 3 hour annual permit working out at 15 pence if used once a day. It should also be acknowledged that these charges had effectively remained the same since 2009. To encourage an uptake in season tickets, it was felt that a promotional campaign should be undertaken and he proposed that this should be an additional recommendation. By comparison, Cllr Seward said a season ticket in the Great Yarmouth area was up to £780 a year and in Kings Lynn it was between £400 and £800 a year.

In conclusion, Cllr Seward said that North Norfolk’s car park charges were amongst the lowest in the country for a tourism area and the proposed changes would ensure that the District remained competitive. He added that the Overview & Scrutiny Committee had also recommended that the current car park management arrangements were strengthened. He said that to do this properly, then a business case should be developed and brought back to Cabinet at a future date. Any proposals coming forward must be self-financing.

Cllr J Rest thanked Cabinet for not increasing annual season ticket charges. He said that in his own ward of Fakenham there were several new housing developments that did not have allocated parking and residents would have to buy a season ticket.

Cllr Cushing echoed Cllr Rest’s comments regarding Fakenham. He said that he welcomed the support for a review of the current car park management arrangements.

The Chairman said that she wanted to remind people that the cost of a season ticket could be spread over quarterly, six monthly or annual payments.

Cllr V Gay thanked Cllr Seward for working in such an inclusive way. She said that car parking charges were always under consideration and there had been pressure to raise charges during the pandemic. However, the Council had taken the view that it should not take advantage of people who wanted to benefit from a trip to the North Norfolk coast.

It was proposed by Cllr E Seward, seconded by Cllr R Kershaw and