Agenda item

Discussion paper of the Head of Integrated Transport & Sustainability

The Head of Integrated Transport and Sustainability introduced the paper as circulated with the agenda and as an introduction provided a brief overview of recent discussions. 

The Cheltenham Parking Board had agreed to the development of the Cheltenham Local Car Parking Strategy with the aim that it be included within the county wide parking strategy as set out in the Local Transport Plan 3.  Developing a localised plan would require broad engagement and consultation with a number of key stakeholders and adjoining authorities.

Recent discussions, like the session held at the Town Hall, demonstrated that there were a number of on and off street parking needs to be considered within the borough and there could be no standardised approach, though there needed to be some, efficiencies and management.  This was a new approach and coupled with the period of changes in relation to enforcement this would be somewhat of a learning curve. 

There were also challenging times ahead with the development of North Place and Portland Street, traffic modelling and consideration of the impact was ongoing.  Importantly, the County Council had resubmitted their bid to the Local Sustainable Transport Fund, which was primarily aimed at supporting economic growth (linking with Cheltenham Civic Pride and Gloucester Regeneration projects) and reducing carbon emissions from travel by implementing various improvements. 

Work was ongoing to determine the impact of new on-street parking schemes.  There appeared to have been a lot of displacement but there was no clear indication as to where to and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology could be used to establish this.

The following responses were given by the Head of Integrated Transport and Sustainability to questions from Members.  He noted that some questions deserved further explanation and more detailed responses and this would be provided outside of the meeting;

• The proposed on-street parking scheme in Montpellier had been endorsed, as amended, by Cheltenham Borough Council and Gloucestershire County Council.  The introduction of new parking schemes formed part of the consultation. 
• TRO was enforceable 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and job descriptions were being drafted to reflect this with a view to ensuring that late nights and public holidays could be resourced.
• The mobility of parking enforcement across Cheltenham was being addressed as part of the restructure of the service area.  This could include the use of bicycles and stagecoach buses by members of staff and would enable a town-wide approach. 
• Gloucestershire University had a policy that all first year students are in residence and do not have a car, but after their first year, many became residents of Cheltenham and paid Council Tax.  Discussions had been ongoing in relation to a possible car share scheme.
• The Smarter Travel Plan did need to be revised, but this required commitment of resources that were currently not available given the number of conflicting priorities.  There had been discussions with GCHQ in relation to learning/tweaking of their fairly recent Travel Plan.
• The location of car parks could not be considered in isolation, account needed to be taken of the road network Cheltenham had inherited. The ring road system had long been a source of frustration to residents and visitors.  The NCP was a purpose built car park and was therefore very different to some of the sites which were never envisaged as long term parking solutions e.g. Grosvenor Terrace.  There were however, some title constraints on some sites across Cheltenham.  At some point in time there would need to be 2 more park and ride locations in Cheltenham.
• Using technology to collect data would enable understanding and intelligence as to where enforcement was required and when. 
• A Project Officer was currently working with the Web Team to develop a means by which members of the public could report any parking issues. 
• Admittedly there were a number of parking zones throughout the town with a large number of spaces during the day and consideration needed to be given to why this was.

Parking was a highly emotive subject but the strategy needed to be clear and to achieve this, matters would need to be debated and then discussions moved on. 

The Chair thanked the Head of Integrated Transport and Sustainability for his attendance and expressed how vital she felt it was that Cheltenham developed a parking strategy of its own.