Friday, 1 April 2011
Roads and Parking
There has been progress on a couple of bread and butter local issues. Surrey County Council have agreed that the default position for smaller villages and parades, in their parking charges review, will be half an hour free on street parking. They will look at the evidence for each locality - and consider the case for exemptions. Meanwhile, Elmbridge Borough Council have announced they are halving the all day charge for 'off street' parking charges - a valuable boost to local trade. At the same time, the government has announced a further £4million to repair roads in Surrey - essential for residents, business and hosting the Olympic cycling in 2012!
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5 comments:
Are you aware of the situation in Claygate where parking charges are likely to be imposed despite the overwhelming opposition of residents and business'?
There is no trust here for the idea of the free half hour because it will be too easy to change and there will be considerable pressure to do so. This is because the placing of meters depends on a projected financial return that will not exist if the free half hour is maintained.
I very much hope that you will consider lending your support to anti charges campaign in Claygate and perhaps you might be in a better position than local residents to force the council to explain why they removed the anti charges banner over the high street.
Alex Trotter
Dear Alex, I am well aware of the issue - I have been engaged in the consultation since last July. Surrey CC have the last word, but I have made clear my view that we neeed some exemptions for smaller villages like Claygate, and an initial period of free parking for the others in Elmbridge. Elmbridge BC have just halved the all day off street parking charges, which helps. The overall system needs to maximise the flow of customers through our villages and towns. DR
'I have made clear my view that we neeed some exemptions for smaller villages like Claygate'
At the Residents' meeting last night there was unanimity in hoping that your view also extends to Thames Ditton.
SCC have failed to provide the business case underlying their proposals for the county-wide project, let alone the detailed case in Thames Ditton. This despite FOI requests.
There are also reliable reports that the order for the street equipment has already been placed - despite the Cabinet final decision being scheduled for 24th May.
There are six vacant lettings in Thames Ditton High Street. If Ian Lake ever needed evidence that the Village was facing very severe difficulties then he needs to walk down the high street. The “stop commuter parking” argument doesn’t wash. Drive through Thames Ditton at 8:30-8:45am and you will see plenty of free spaces so we aren’t plagued by commuters clogging up the High Street. Ian Lake’s core logic for the scheme is to raise revenue to offset the ½ mill enforcement losses in other large Surrey parking schemes. So what Ian Lake is saying is:
“We lose very large sums of money on big parking schemes in Guildford, Woking et al where parking fees are very high and there are large numbers of pay and display spaces. To make good these loss making schemes we need to implement large numbers of low cost per bay schemes with small numbers of bays and we are praying that these will be profitable”.
I sent Ian Lake a FOI in March and haven’t yet had a response. I asked him for details on surveys of parking usage and spaces in Thames Ditton, financial forecasts, costs etc. Ian Lake wrote to Peter Hickman (local SCC councillor) forecasting annual revenues of £6000 and costs of £5000 and this was before the decision was taken to halve Ashley Road car park charges and to provide the first half hour free.
You don’t need to be Warren Buffet to work out that halving Ashley Road charges and providing the first half hour free is going to decimate pay and display income. Enforcement will always be a relatively fixed cost.
I have spoken with Metric Parking who are tendering for the Surrey pay and display scheme and understand that machines cost circa £2200-£2500 each and maintenance costs are circa £300-£500 per annum. We know from our dealings with Skanska what cabling costs will be. All up the scheme will cost (they are budgeting two machines) circa £10,000 (inc Vat) to implement and will lose at least £3,000 per annum. Even if the scheme did miraculously make the £1,000 per annum that Ian Lake is forecasting, it would take 10 years to pay back the start-up costs! Metric Parking will tell you that machines are replaced roughly every 10 years. And this is a money making scheme!!
Repeat
At the Residents' meeting last night [10th May] there was unanimity in hoping that your view also extends to Thames Ditton.
SCC have failed to provide the business case underlying their proposals for the county-wide project, let alone the detailed case in Thames Ditton. This despite FOI requests.
There are also reliable reports that the order for the street equipment has already been placed - despite the Cabinet final decision being scheduled for 24th May.
- see also other commentary on
http://residents-association.com/forum/index.php?topic=362.90
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