Issue - meetings

This report includes information about the number of civil parking enforcement related penalty charge notices issued for the period 2012/2013, the income and expenditure recorded in our ‘parking account’ and how subsequent parking surplus has been spent or allocated.

that approval be given for publication the Parking Services Annual Report 2012/13.

One requirement of the Traffic Management Act 2004 was for local authorities to produce and publish an annual report on parking enforcement activities. The purpose of the report from the Strategic Director of Environment and Neighbourhoods was to explain the aims and key objectives of delivering a parking enforcement service in Brent and the key achievements and statistical analysis of the last financial year. Councillor J Moher (Lead Member, Highways and Transportation) stated that the Parking Service was committed to providing a fair, consistent and transparent enforcement operation. He referred to information about the number of civil parking enforcement related penalty charge notices issued for the period 2012/2013 but pointed to the number of penalty charge notices that had been waived. Councillor Moher acknowledged that the parking account was a sizeable source of income however it costed approximately £7,614,000 to fund the system and the surplus was transferred to pay for transportation schemes and environmental improvement. He stressed the need to ensure traffic flow and improve road safety making specific reference to school areas and cyclists.

Councillor Lorber (Leader of the Opposition) regretted that the report did not include any comparative data with PCN charges over previous years. He also felt that Brent’s expenditure of parking surplus on street lighting was outside of the provisions of the Road Traffic Act 1984.  Additionally, Councillor Lorber called for a review of the hours of operation which he considered to be excessive with drivers being penalised all day on empty roads and long after the events concerned have ended. He made reference to a petition to this effect due to come before the Highways Committee the following evening.

Councillor Moher responded that comparisons with previous years were not always possible as the data was not comparable and countered that street lighting was transport related. He acknowledged that the matter could be discussed further at the forthcoming meeting of the Highways Committee.

RESOLVED:

that approval be given for publication the Parking Services Annual Report 2012/13.