Wycombe District Council

Parking Services
Annual report 2008/9

Prepared by: Robin Evans, Parking Services Manager

Road Traffic Act (RTA) 1984 was the parking act for off street car parks within the
district
RTA '91 was the On Street Regulation Road Traffic Act 1991 for parking
enforcement until 2008
Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA) came into force 31st March 2008 to replace
the RTA 91 act for on street parking enforcement.

Wycombe District - Changes in parking enforcement

Wycombe District Council (WDC) was responsible for all off street
parking within the district and operated under the Road Traffic Act
1984 regulations until October 2008.

The Thames Valley Police (TVP) was responsible for all traffic
regulations on the highway, with the exception of Wycombe Town
Centre, where Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC) as Highways
Authority, decided in 1997 to implement a Special Parking Area
(SPA). The law stipulated that although you may employ a
contractor to operate the enforcement, the council must operate the
back office representation process with dedicated Council staff.

BCC employed a contractor to operate the On Street enforcement

under RTA'91 and changed over to the new upgraded legislation of
the TMA 2004 in the 31st March 2008.

Over many years, upon requests from residents and Members alike,
it was felt it more logical and more cost effective through economies
of scale, to change from 3 enforcement authorities (TV Police, BCC
on street and WDC Off Street) into one enforcement body using one
set of guidelines.
The police encountered difficulty in dealing effectively with parking
offences due to other criminal priorities and a lack of resources.
It was also confusing for the public as each enforcement body was
implementing different regulations in dealing with parking traffic
offences.

This is happening all across the country nationwide and more and
more local authorities are moving over to one enforcement
operation to make it a consistent and fairer system for the local
residents and consumers.
As a result, a feasibility study was commissioned, the results
publicised and consulted upon by all official stakeholders and finally
agreed by members of both WDC and BCC councils.

Therefore, planning the integration of the service was undertaken

and programmed to start to initiate this process in June 2008.
Administration offices merged and we had hoped and expected to
start district wide on 1 July 2008.

However this was delayed due to set up, legal process reasons and
awaiting approval from the Department for Transport (DfT).
Therefore, a phased integration process was undertaken.

Phase 1 – June ’08 integration of administration staff, systems and

training processes.
Phase 2 – July ’08 WDC took over On street existing SPA town
centre operation from the contractor and integrate within WDC
parking operations team.
Phase 3 - October ’08 on receiving official approval from the DfT,
both On and Off Street enforcement systems were combined into
one operation and enforcement started district wide.
The district was now operating only under the TMA 2004 for
everything.

During this transition period, all parking staff were re-trained, taking
into account new legislation, but also in customer service and
dealing with difficult situations.
All staff acquired the new City & Guilds qualification although many
already held the NVQ qualification in parking control. New staff
were also taken on, trained and qualified with City & Guilds
certification.

We have a total of 50 staff, covering a 7 day operation

1 x Parking Services Manager

1 x Team Leader - Projects, Management information
1 x Systems specialist
1 x Team Leader Representations
1 x Team Leader Administration
6 x Administration Case officers
1 x Administrator
1 x Team Leader Operations
5 x Supervisors
30 x Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs)
2 x CEOs part time (Sat only)
----
50
For the first 6 months, it was decided not to change anything
regarding lines, signs or regulations. This was allow a settling in
period and to see how new enforcement might affect and improve
parking congestion and illegal parking from inconsiderate drivers
and to see if this affected new areas that were not apparent
previously.

BCC had to check all the lines and signs in the district and renew where necessary in
order for WDC to enforce correctly. This check has been completed and any issues
remedied. It also has to be noted, that there are constant issues arising from lines and
signs and we have to keep under review on signs that go missing and need replacing
and road works occurring where lines need replacing. This happens across the whole
country and councils have to try and keep on top of these issues as much as possible
and replace markings as soon as they are aware of it.

It has to be noted that there are not parking enforcement lines on every road or street
in the district as on many occasions it was not necessary. Therefore WDC can only
enforce where parking regulations exist (yellow lines, defined parking areas, loading
bays or disabled bay areas). See location map attached.
This can lead to a misunderstanding by the public who believe we can deal with
anything which unfortunately is not the case.
The Police still deal with ‘moving’ traffic contraventions, motorways and access
roads and obstruction of the highway as this is a requirement by UK law.

What happened in the first 6 months from October 2008?

Firstly, a very positive response from the vast majority of people and local town and
parish councils. Improvement in congested areas, improvement for disabled drivers
and moving illegally parked vehicles making many areas much safer for the local
community. A noticeable difference overall and this is just the start.

The negatives – there will always be issues as we cannot please everyone. However,
one of the biggest problems is dealing with people’s expectations and the lack of
understanding of the Highway Code.

It is quite probable, where illegal parking has occurred for years and not enforced to
the proper extent, some people have taken it mistakenly as a right to park where they
like, regardless or double or single yellow lines or signs with time restrictions and not
adhered to the Highway Code.

Parking on pavements or verges (which are all part of the highway) is dangerous and
illegal. Pedestrians, parents with pushchairs and children and the disabled constantly
have to step onto the road and risk their lives to walk passed illegally parked cars.

Therefore, we have run advertising campaigns in the local press and also the
Community Voice magazine, (the Council’s own quarterly news magazine sent to all
residents properties within the district) and the hospital and other local magazines in
an attempt to remind people of the regulations.
We have received numerous requests from people about adding new lines, new
schemes, new residents parking or modifying current schemes etc. The list has been
very large. We are considering all these requests for viability and funding options.

We purposely have not publicised a general note or a request for ideas as this would
swamp the system and would be overwhelming. Remember we have only just started.

Timescales – this is another issue that creates difficulty, as to change and implement a
new regulation, a legal process of consultation, advertising times and council approval
processes has to be followed and therefore even a simple change can take a minimum
of 10 months from start to finish.

We are working in partnership with BCC who remain the Highways Authority and as
such they continue to arrange for the creation of new traffic regulation orders (TROs)
and make any changes to existing regulations.
Both WDC and BCC work very closely together on residents and Council members
new change requests. There is a Civil Enforcement Area (CEA) Steering Group made
up of council officers and Council Members of WDC and BCC responsible for
transportation and parking portfolios.

WDC parking services provide the enforcement role of patrolling the district, both On
Street and Off Street car parks, manage the residents permit scheme and On Street
Pay & Display system.

Finance – Parking is ideally to be self funding.

The On Street and Off Street sections must be accounted for separately and
independently according to legislation.

The On street account is tight as income streams are limited to:

a) Pay & Display – currently only in High Wycombe town
b) Residents permit schemes (residents only pay a contribution to the schemes
which are costly to implement and operate)
c) Visitors permits /suspensions/dispensation schemes (minimal)
d) Penalty Charge Notices – no targets or incentives allowed. These alone do not
cover enforcement overheads.

The Off Street account does make a surplus to start with, but has to fund other
environmental or transportation issues that do not have any income to support them.
Income derived from
a) Pay & display in car parks across the district
b) Car Park permits / scratchcards etc
c) Penalty Charge Notices – again no targets or incentives allowed and on it’s
own, does not cover enforcement overheads

Any surpluses should cover operating costs and are destined by legislation to be re-
invested into funding parking, transportation and environmental improvements. It was
anticipated that costs for starting up and implementing new systems, equipment and
manpower would be a drain on financial resources and we would indeed not recoup
costs or balance accounts on the On street section until a five year period had
transpired.
This does not take into account any new works or changes that may be considered. If
this were necessary to implement anything new, then extra income funding would
need to be identified.

2008/2009 On Street Off Street

Pay & Display £202,422 £ 2,833,923
Permits £ 28,738 £ 236,056
Penalty Charges £287,908 £ 165,493
Other (Dispensations etc) £ 16,913 £ 212,678
Total income £535,981 £ 3,448,150

Expenditure £613,144 £ 2,636,729

Balance - £ 77,163 £ 811,421

Start up costs CEA -£147,182 -£40,556

Final Balance - £ 224,345 £ 770,865

Off street surplus was used towards Park & Ride costs and transportation
services.

First review
We are currently reviewing our first 6 – 9 months of operation and we have been
constantly monitoring from an operational viewpoint how we can cover the whole
district more efficiently and also taking on board customer comments.

All the changes mentioned above, are extremely costly to investigate in the first
instance as surveys have to be undertaken and are then expensive to implement.
Therefore, a selection and priority process has to be implemented. This of course
means that there are some items and schemes that either cannot be considered at all or
will be deferred until funding can be identified. This, regardless of how much we
really want to do this. Priorities can be very difficult and it is the council members
who have to make some of these difficult decisions

This is an continual rolling programme and we will continue to review on at least an

annual basis in order to improve our service where we can, embracing new
technology where possible and also keeping customer and resident comments and
requests in the forefront of our mind.

Statistics TMA – Civil Enforcement Area

Attached are the statistics for our first financial year. It can be seen that they refer to
different parts of the year and demonstrate where the change over has taken place.
Street. A combined operation only existed from July 08.

Our financial outcome was not as good as expected for the first 6-9 months. This was
due to several factors. A delay in commencement being one, but also the economic
 downturn that has occurred nationwide also affected most authorities to one extent or
another. Less people using their vehicles, more people that expected on public
transport (a good thing however), high cost of fuel deterring motorists, to name a few
issues that affected forecasting more than expected.

The type of contraventions incurred is interesting,

32% = No permit or Pay & Display ticket displayed
30% = Parked on yellow lines
Remainder is made up of parked in illegal locations ( loading bays / disabled bays /
zig zags / taxi ranks etc) or overstaying expiry times or maximum stay time limits.
All of the above could have been avoided if drivers followed the Highway Code and
local regulations as signed in the parking areas.

It is also interesting to note that the number of Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) issued
is very low compared to the millions of users a year (Car parks had 4,000+ PCNs on
2.6 million users (0.2% ) - On street 9000 PCNs users not able to calculate but larger
area than car parks capacity) Therefore, the message is that the vast majority of
drivers are careful and considerate which is great news and only a small minority are
either careless or inconsiderate motorists. It is anticipated that vehicles on the road
will increase steadily and therefore one assumes that ticket numbers will follow.

Please find below:

a) Statistics for the financial year ending 31 March 2009
b) Map of district showing areas where parking regulations apply

On Street Statistics: From 1 July 09 to 31 March 09 Number %

• Number of Higher level PCN issued: 6460 71

• Number of low Level PCN issued: 2604 29
• Number of PCNs issued with no charge level: 63
• Total number of PCNs issued: 9102

• Number of PCNs paid at discounted rate: 5372 59

• Number of PCNs paid at non discount rate 920 10
• Total number of PCNs paid: 6292 70
• Total number PCNs unpaid; 2810
30

• Number of Charge Certificates registered at TEC; 1219 13

• Number of PCNs which has informal or formal
representation made against them: 1957 21
• Number of PCNs cancelled as a result of informal or
formal representation being made: 667 34
• Number of PCNs written off for other reasons: 687 35
• Number of PCNs which resulted in adjudication
 because of representation: 7 0.4

• Number of vehicles clamped: 0 Not apply

• Number of vehicles removed: 0 Not apply

Off Street Statistics: From 1 October 08 to 31 March 09 Number %

• Number of Higher level PCN issued: 243 6

• Number of low Level PCN issued: 3883 94
• Number of PCNs issued with no charge level: 25
• Total number of PCNs issued: 4151

• Number of PCNs paid at discounted rate: 2655 64

• Number of PCNs paid at non discount rate 379 9
• Total number of PCNs paid: 3034 74
• Total number PCNs unpaid; 1117
26

• Number of Charge Certificates registered at TEC; 319 8

• Number of PCNs which has informal or formal
representation made against them: 1147 28
• Number of PCNs cancelled as a result of informal or
formal representation being made: 434 11
• Number of PCNs written off for other reasons: 268 6
• Number of PCNs which resulted in adjudication
because of representation: 7 0.2

Early year facts and Statistics. - April 08 to 30 September 08

Prior to changing over to using the new Traffic Management Act (TMA), Wycombe
District Council operated the Off street parking under the Road Traffic Act 1984
(RTA’84)

In doing so, instead of issuing Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs), our officers issued
Standard Charge Tickets (SCTs) and followed similar processes.
For example, we would consider all appeals and if not concluded directly with the
appellant, the appellant had the opportunity of following through the independent
system of the Magistrates Court proceedings.

This system worked very well, but was confusing to the public as it was under
different legislation to On street, under the road traffic act 1991 (RTA’91) and also
the Police system (criminal court).

WDC
Statistics RTA’84 – (April 08 to Sept 08 inclusive) Numbers %

Number of SCTs issued: 2861

Number of appeals 338 12

Number of cases written off after contact 94 3

Number of cases unpaid / written off: 384 13

Number of cases paid at discount rate: 1950 68

Number of cases paid at full rate: 416 15

Number of cases live / legal pending 35 1

On Street Special Parking Area (SPA) April to June 08

The On Street operation was operated by Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC)

and they operated the back office administration function, dealing with formal
representations and the independent adjudication service under the Traffic
Management Act (TMA)

The front line operational service of the parking shop and the On Street parking
attendants were contracted out to a private company called National Car Parks (NCP)

The SPA, only covered the main centre of High Wycombe Town area with a border
around the centre, but took over the enforcement responsibilities from the police on
 parking issues and also operated a residents parking scheme in the High Wycombe
Town Centre since 1997.

The following are the financial year statistics of their operation from April 08 through
to June 08 inclusive.

BCC / NCP operation

On Street Statistics: From 1 April 08 to 30 June 08 Number %

• Number of Higher level PCN issued: 1561 73

• Number of low Level PCN issued: 569 27
• Number of PCNs issued with no charge level: 6
• Total number of PCNs issued: 2136

• Number of PCNs paid at discounted rate: 1258 59

• Number of PCNs paid ay the non discount rate 263 12
• Total number of PCNs paid: 1521 71
• Total number PCNs unpaid; 615
29

• Number of Charge Certificates registered at TEC; 149 7

• Number of PCNs which has informal or formal
representation made against them: 242 11
• Number of PCNs cancelled as a result of informal or
formal representation being made: 163 8
• Number of PCNs written off for other reasons: 15 0.7
• Number of PCNs which resulted in adjudication
because of representation: 5 0.2

• Number of vehicles clamped: 0 Not apply

• Number of vehicles removed: 0 Not apply

Systems integrated

Both operations are now fully integrated and operational across the district.
An integrated service brings cost savings through combining operations and
economies of scale.
Future- the way forward……

Both On Street and Off Street accounts legally must be kept separate.
The Off Street car parks should provide a return on Council land investment and
balance this with providing support to the community.
Surpluses are a contribution to council services and to reduce council costs.

On Street management and enforcement operation however is a separate issue. It is

the intention that On Street operation should be self funding, Environmental and
transportation improvements should be funded by the On Street income streams. (Pay
& Display, residents parking schemes etc.)

Since taking over the on street enforcement, we have received a large number of
comments and requests from members of the public, residents groups and local
councillors, asking for alterations to the parking regulations in their areas. These
include suggestions for parking restrictions to be introduced or removed such as
yellow lines or no waiting zones and for new residents parking schemes.

Before we can make any changes, we shall continue to work closely with our
colleagues at Buckinghamshire County Council – the Highways Authority.
This is an exercise that will take some time to implement, however, we are committed
to working closely with our colleagues at the County Council to ensure that the local
views we have received are looked at seriously and where possible changes are made.

Our planning will have to be in two stages, firstly, we need to prioritise issues of
safety and congestion. These issues will need to be thoroughly reviewed with site
visits carried out to consider effectiveness and appropriateness of the locations.
The second stage will then focus on the numerous requests received since the
introduction of the new enforcement system.

Due to the volume of the requests, this phase is likely to run into the following year.
The total cost of evaluating and implementing requests is significant to both councils.
We shall continue to work hard to ensure that with the limited funding and resources
available, we are able to satisfy as far as possible the requests from our residents and
at the same time putting safety and congestion at the top of our considerations.

End of report: