Agenda item

This report informs the committee of a petition requesting the council not to carry out the review of the controlled parking zone SH in Fernbank, Maybank and Rosebank Avenues, Sudbury.

(i)        that the contents of the petition and the issues it raises be noted;

(ii)       that the Head of Transportation be authorised to proceed with consultation on a review of the controlled parking zone SH in 2014/15 as previously approved by the Highways Committee at the meeting on 10 October 2013;

(iii)      that the Head of Transportation reports the results of the consultation to a future Highways Committee with recommendations on whether or not to proceed with any amendments to existing restrictions;

(iv)      that if the results of the consultation do not support changes, that no further review be  considered within 2 years of the date of decision by the Highways Committee;

(v)       that the main petitioner be informed of the outcome of the Highways Committee decisions in regard to this matter.

Members considered a report which informed them of a petition requesting the Council not to carry out the review of the controlled parking zone (CPZ) SH in Fernbank, Maybank and Rosebank Avenues, Sudbury.  Tony Antoniou (Head of Transportation) reminded members that the SH CPZ scheme was implemented in order to prevent commuter and long term parking from the area, improve road safety, reduce the level of traffic and regulate on-street parking whilst attracting more customers to local businesses by allowing greater turnover in parking spaces. The operational hours agreed with residents and businesses were from 8.00am to 6.30pm Monday to Saturday excluding bank holidays.  He continued that following a petition the Highways Committee decided on 10 October 2013 to instruct officers to carry out a review of the SH CPZ scheme.  It was further to the Committee’s decision that a subsequent petition had been received requesting the Council not to carry out the review.

In responding to the petition, the Head of Transportation stated that the consultation and survey results provided by the lead petitioner petition were not in accordance with the Council’s normal consultation process and expressed a view that the questionnaire might not be representative of the views of the local community.  He continued that the Council had replaced visitor scratch cards with daily virtual permits to prevent abuse of the system and that issues about the on-line parking service would be reviewed taking into account user feedback.  He therefore recommended that members instruct officers to proceed with the consultation on the review of parking control operational times in accordance with the decision made in October 2013 and the results of the consultation reported back to the Committee.

Mr Yasir Hai, the lead petitioner presented his comprehensive survey results and spoke to the petition. Mr Hai stated that his survey results demonstrated that 63% would like the SH CPZ scheme to remain unchanged, 95% wanted the retention of the scratch card system and that 90% of residents believed that the on-line payment system was not user friendly.  In the light of the above results, Mr Hai stated that there was no need for the Council to review the SH CPZ scheme and asked members to withdraw their decision made in October 2013.

RESOLVED:

(i)        that the contents of the petition and the issues it raises be noted;

(ii)       that the Head of Transportation be authorised to proceed with consultation on a review of the controlled parking zone SH in 2014/15 as previously approved by the Highways Committee at the meeting on 10 October 2013;

(iii)      that the Head of Transportation reports the results of the consultation to a future Highways Committee with recommendations on whether or not to proceed with any amendments to existing restrictions;

(iv)      that if the results of the consultation do not support changes, that no further review be  considered within 2 years of the date of decision by the Highways Committee;

(v)       that the main petitioner be informed of the outcome of the Highways Committee decisions in regard to this matter.