Decision:
1. In respect of Farnham Road Multistorey Car Park:
· To increase the standard daytime rate from £1.10 per hour to £1.20 per hour
· To remove the pre-7am £1.00 per hour rate
· To standardise the Sunday daytime rate with the proposed Monday to Saturday rate of £1.20 per hour
· To increase the maximum daily (capped) tariff from £9.00 per day to £10.00 per day.
2. In respect of York Road Multistorey Car Park:
· To convert from a Shopper car park to a Long-stay car park
· To remove the £4.00 up to 3-hour tariff structure and replace with a standard daytime rate of £1.20 per hour between 8am and 6pm
· To reduce the maximum daily (capped) tariff from £11.00 per day to £10.00 per day.
3. In respect of season tickets, contract parking and garages:
To increase the current rates charged by 10%.
4. To make no other changes to the Short-stay and Shopper car park tariffs.
5. To refocus the Parking Strategy to reflect modern technology and parking trends by using external consultants up to a budget of £50,000 and to report its findings to the Executive.
6. To delegate approval to join the National Parking Platform (NPP) to the Joint Assistance Director of Commercial Services in consultation with the Lead Councillor for Commercial Services.
7. To note the priorities for the capital programme for the years 2025-2030.
Reason(s):
1. In April 2024, tariffs in the Short-stay and Shopper car park were increased. However, the daytime Long-stay parking and Sunday fees at Farnham Road MSCP were left unchanged. Similarly, the Contract Parking, Season ticket and Garage fees were not revised at that time.
2. At Farnham Road MSCP the proposed 10p per hour increase from £1.10 per hour to £1.20 per hour recommended, equates to a 2.92% per increase over the 3-year period since the charges were last amended. This and the other amendments to the tariffs proposed for this car park are expected to generate an additional £119,000 per annum in net revenue.
3. Changes in the nature of the business and retail activity, in the upper High Street area of the town centre, has resulted in reduction in utilisation at York Road MSCP. This has led to an over-capacity of Shopper parking provision in the area. Therefore, to try to encourage greater use of this facility, which boasts the largest capacity of any car park in that particular part of the town, changing the car park to a Long-stay facility, with lower charges, may help to increase patronage and free up capacity in nearby Short-stay and Shopper facilities.
4. The conversion of York Road MSCP will establish a Long-stay interceptor facility on the eastern side of the town centre, like that provided by Farnham Road MSCP on the western approach to the town centre. However, the proposed change in daytime tariffs to a £1.20 per hour fee will have a negative financial impact. This is expected to reduce net revenue by around £186,000 per annum (assuming no increase in patronage). Even so, it may help to better meet the needs of businesses, who since the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, have been seeking concessions for staff parking.
5. However, if as anticipated, the reduced fees encourage greater utilisation, the negative revenue position could be reduced. A 5% increase in patronage would reduce the net revenue reduction from £186,000 to £159,000 per annum, A 10% increase in utilisation would reduce the net revenue reductions to £133,000. Indeed, if there was a 15% increase in use, the £106,000 net reduction would be exceeded by the net increase in revenue anticipated at Farnham Road MSCP (£119,000). So, the proposed changes could be broadly ‘cost neutral’. Of course, if there is displacement from other nearby Short-stay and Shopper car parks, this may reduce revenues there, but this would help to free up capacity in these centrally located facilities, for other visitors to use.
6. Notwithstanding, the Parking team has been set a target to generate an additional £1.0m in net revenue in 2025-26 (in addition to the £800,000 target that it was set for 2024-25). So, other tariff changes could be considered. However, thus far during 2024-25, the service has exceeded predictions in respect ticket revenue, contract parking, season ticket, pre-payment and penalty charge notice income (see 6.3).
7. Additionally, when new Pay and Display (P&D) and Barrier Pay on Foot (PoF) parking equipment is introduced in late 2024-25 / early 2025-26, the availability of improved technology and contactless payments across all our parking facilities is likely to generate additional revenues, in respect to the anticipated transfer from cash to card payments. This could be expected to generate around £300,000 additional net revenue per annum, through people using card rather than limiting the duration of their stays based upon the amount of change they possess.
8. Contract Parking and Season tickets represent extremely good value for money for regular users, with discounts ranging between 15%-45% of standard parking tariffs. To avoid impeding the return-to-work post-pandemic, the fees associated with these two forms of parking offer have only been increased once, in 2022-23, when the fees were subject to a 3.0% rise. Garages were last increased in 2023-24, by 3.5%. Therefore, a 10% increase in Contract, Season ticket and Garage fees is recommended. In respect to Contract and Season ticket parking, this equates to 3.23% annual increase per year over the 3-year period since the charges were last amended. This is broadly in line with the average inflation rate over the period. Given the realignment of the tariffs and daily cap on fees in Farnham Road and York Road MSCPs, it is recommended that the season ticket fees in these car parks are also standardised. These changes are expected to generate an additional £78,500 per annum in net revenue.
9. Summary of impact of the recommended changes
· Performance exceeding expectations FY24-25: +£265k (ticket) +£268k (PCN) + £67k (Contract etc…)
· Farnham Road MSCP: +£119,000
· York Road MSCP: -£186,000
· Contract Parking, Season Tickets & Garages: +£78,500
10. Other changes to operations in FY24-25
· New payment equipment / technology: +£300,000
· Cash Collection collaboration: +£65,000
· Waverley enforcement collaboration: +£23,000
TOTAL (compared to baseline FY24/25 budget): +£1.00m
11. No other tariffs changes are recommended for 2025-26, on the basis that the vast majority of the other parking fees were increased in April 2024. It should be noted that these revisions were higher than the levels originally recommended by officers.
12. The development of a new Parking Strategy will help to determine any changes in supply and demand and assess the future requirements for the provision of parking within the town. This will help to ensure that the parking facilities remain fit for purpose and there is sufficient capacity for them to act as an effective enabler for the local economy.
13. The NPP will bring together car park operators, equipment suppliers and service providers, to give customers a wider range of options to pay for parking, improved business intelligence for operators and benefits in terms of the economies of scale.
14. The adoption of a more structured capital programme for both the structured and surface car parks will assist in budgeting for planned maintenance, upgrades and ensure that health and safety and the customer’s experience is maintained/improved.
Other options considered and rejected by the Committee:
Do nothing, Do minimum, Do most.
Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:
None.
Shopper Tariff
1.
Option B - to change with
effect from 1 July 2022, the shopper tariff from £3 for up to
3 hours, £6 for 3-6 hours and £12 for more than 6
hours, to £3.60 for up to 3 hours, £7.20 for 3-6 hours
and £14.40 for more than 6 hours (Bedford Rd MSCP, Castle
MSCP, G Live, Millbrook, Tunsgate, York Rd MSCP)
2.
To include an additional
transfer of £180,000 from the Car Parks Maintenance Reserve
within the final General Fund Budget Report to be presented to the
Council at the Budget Meeting on 9 February 2022 to cover the
revenue implications of the delayed implementation of the Shopper
Tariff.
Short-stay Tariff
3. Option D - to consolidate the tariff in the car parks charged by the hour from £1.30 and £1.50 per hour, and to change them to £1.80 per hour for the first 3 hours, and £2.30 per hour for subsequent hours (Bedford Surface, Bright Hill, Commercial Rd 2, High Street, Lawn Road (Saturday only), Leapale Road MSCP, Old Police Station, Millmead House (Saturday only), Portsmouth Rd (Saturday only), Robin Hood (Saturday only), St Joseph’s Church (Saturday only))
Evening Tariff
4. Option C - to change the evening charge from £1 (6pm-10pm Mon-Sat) to £1.50 (6pm-10pm Mon-Sun) (Bedford Rd MSCP, Bedford Surface, Bright Hill, Castle MSCP, Commercial Rd 2, G Live, High Street, Leapale Road MSCP, Millbrook, Old Police Station, Portsmouth Rd, Tunsgate and York Rd MSCP)
Sunday Tariff
5. Option C - to change the Sunday charge from £1.50 for up to 3 and £2.50 for 3-6 hours, to £2.00 for up to 3 and £4.00 for 3-6 hours (Bedford Rd MSCP, Bedford Surface, Bright Hill, Castle MSCP, Commercial Rd 2, G Live, High Street, Lawn Road, Leapale Road MSCP, Millmead House, Millbrook, Old Police Station, Portsmouth Rd, Hood, St Joseph’s Church, Tunsgate and York Rd MSCP)
Car Park Specific Tariffs
6. Farnham Rd MSCP – change pre-7am rate from £0.90 per hour to £1.00 per hour, standard rate (7am-7pm) from £1.00 per hour to £1.10 per hour, and (7pm-7am) rate from £0.10 per hour to £0.20 per hour.
8. Shalford Park & Walnut Tree Close – change Monday to Friday tariff from £3.20 per day to £4.00 per day.
9. Ash Vale Railway Station - change Monday to Friday tariff from £1.00 per day to £1.50 per day.
Traffic Regulation Order
10. To formally advertise the amendment to the Traffic Regulation Order for the purpose of the following changes:
(a) To make the EVCP bays enforceable and available only to vehicles being charged.
(b) To replace the “Green Scheme” with a pay by phone solution that provides greater benefit for All Electric vehicle users in the pay and display car parks, equivalent to a tariff reduction of £0.20 per hour; and
(c) To make the necessary amendments, as and when required, to reflect the permanent closure of Commercial Road 2, Guildford Park and Old Police Station car parks, which are all due to close in 2022-23.
and if any representations are received, to authorise the Parking Lead, Head of Technical and Operational Services and Director of Service Delivery to consider these in consultation with the Lead Councillor for Environment.
EV Strategy
11. To agree that an EV strategy be developed to define the Council’s role in this developing sector.
Annual Report
12. Noted the performance of Parking Services in 2020-21, as detailed in Appendix 2 of the report.
Reasons:
1. is an enabler to around £150-200m of retail activity within the local economy, as well as supporting a wide variety of other business needs (Systra Parking Study 2020),
2. pricing is the primary mechanism with which to modify user behaviour, and in line with the Council’s strategic aims, encourage more sustainable transportation modes, such as the Park and Ride, public transport, cycling and walking,
3. generates a significant surplus with which to maintain and improve the parking facilities, and more generally, support the Council’s budget.
Other options considered and rejected by the Executive:
Tariff option:
A. No Change – provides no additional encouragement for visitors to consider sustainable transport alternatives and would not bring income back to 2019-20 levels, based on anticipated utilisation
Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:
None.
Decision:
(1) To continue with the proposed short stay car park price increase as set out in option 2, but to authorise the Waste Parking and Fleet Services Manager, in consultation with the relevant lead councillor and Director of Resources, to review the charge in January 2021 and to cancel the increase if the recovery from Covid is likely, in their view, to be negatively affected by this increase.
(2) To make no changes to Sunday tariffs for all car parks.
(3) To reallocate Leapale Road as “short stay” and bring prices into line with neighbouring short stay surface car parks.
(4) To introduce a new shopper offer, Monday to Saturday, based on the flat rate option 3 in paragraph 12.3 of the report submitted to the Executive.
(5) To note the performance of Parking Services in 2019-20, as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report.
(6) To continue with cash car park payments for the present but keep under review as part of ongoing developments in this area.
Reasons:
· To respond to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic;
· To support local business and residents
· To support the recovery and stabilisation of the town
Other options considered and rejected by the Executive:
Option 1 - No increase on pricing, no change to currentsituation. If Option 1 was chosen, the forecasted 2020-21 budget for off-street would have been circa £8,366,420, which is based on actuals from 2019-20, prior to Covid19 impact. However, Covid19 and uncertainty over the speed and scale of economic recovery makes it difficult to predict the likely revenues with any degree of certainty.
Option 2 – to further increase the rate for the 4 most convenient surface car parks in the town centre by 10 pence per hour for the first 3 hours, it is estimated to generate a 3.2% increase in revenue of £41,000 per annum if 2019/20 figures are used to predict.
Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:
None