Agenda for Cabinet Planning and Parking Panel on Thursday 6th June 2019, 7.30 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Council Offices, The Campus, Welwyn Garden City, Herts, AL8 6AE

Contact: Gurdip Paddan 

Items
No. Item

1.

APPOINTMENT OF CHAIRMAN AND VICE CHAIRMAN

To note that the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Panel for the 2019/20 Municipal Year will be appointed at the Cabinet meeting on 4 June 2019.

Minutes:

It was noted that Councillors S. Boulton and S. Kasumu were elected Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively for the Municipal Year 2019/2020.

 

2.

MINUTES

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 11 April 2019 (previously circulated).

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting held on 11 April 2019 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

3.

PARKING SERVICES WORK PROGRAMME UPDATE pdf icon PDF 121 KB

Report of the Corporate Director (Resources, Environment and Cultural Services on a revised parking services work programme for 2019-2021.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report of the Corporate Director (Resources, Environment and Cultural Services), which provided an update on the Parking Services work programme.  In July 2018, following a recommendation from this Panel, Cabinet approved an additional officer resource for a fixed two year contract to be appointed to the Parking Services Team.  This officer role was to carry out consultations with residents and businesses, which were on the approved Council’s Parking Services Work Programme.  Initially, the post was successfully filled for six months, however the post had become vacant in February 2019 and although the vacancy had been advertised on two occasions, the Council has not succeeded in employing a person to the position.

 

Additionally, another two year fixed term position in Parking Services Team became vacant in April 2019 and one of the Senior Parking Technicians posts has more recently became vacant.  Every endeavour was being made to promptly fill the vacancies.  Discussion ensued on the vacancies and it was suggested that additional resource should be made available to enable the Parking Services Team.  It was noted that the Council was proposing to merge the two fixed term vacancies to provide one 3.5 year fixed term contract to make the position more appealing employment opportunity.    It was suggested that Cabinet be asked to make the post permanent to generate interest in the position.  The Panel agreed that the resource be considered as a permanent post as part of the budget setting process.

 

The report noted that the Parking Services Work Programme 2018/20 had been approved in July 2018 and took into consideration the number of large projects on the work programme.  The current vacancies in the Parking Team was having an influence on the projects on the current work programme.

 

It was noted that Peartree would need to be deferred, as a large number of roads in Salisbury Village were due to be adopted in the coming months by Hertfordshire County Council. This would mean the current parking restrictions could not be managed by the private company, therefore unable to be enforceable.  Members commented on work required at various junctions in Hatfield and surrounding areas such as Campion Road.  Although vehicles had been sighted parked on either side of the road/junction in congested areas; it was felt that this provided a form of traffic calming. It was agreed that Campion Road works be considered in the next work programme.  A Member commented that there may be resource available from the Hertfordshire County Council’s Locality Budget for improvement to highway junctions.

 

The Panel noted that changing parking conditions often generated negative publicity with some parking being displaced into nearby roads.  With any change there will be some residents that see restrictions being imposed as a means of taking away parking spaces but in reality these vehicles appear to be parked in areas that are not designated parking bays.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.    That the Panel recommends to approve to Cabinet the revised Parking Services Work Programme 2019-2021, as outlined in Appendix A.  This being based  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

INTRODUCTION OF WAITING RESTRICTIONS IN VARIOUS ROADS, HANDSIDE WARD, WELWYN GARDEN CITY pdf icon PDF 188 KB

Report of the Corporate Director (Resources, Environment and Cultural Services) on the implementation of proposed waiting restrictions.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report of the Corporate Director (Resources, Environment and Cultural Services) on the introduction of waiting restrictions in various roads, Handside Ward, Welwyn Garden City.  The report primarily concerned two separate locations, the area of Lemsford Lane directly outside Stanborough School and Stanborough Close, a small residential cul de-sac.

 

Consideration was given to Lemsford Lane, where a number of residents residing opposite Stanborough School had complained of congestion and unnecessary obstruction.  They had requested double yellow lines to replace the existing single yellow line Monday to Friday restriction.  Parking problems occur particularly at weekends when the school hosts sporting activities.  Buses find it difficult to pass through parked vehicles on either side of the road, as well as residents struggling to access/egress on to their off-street parking provision.

 

It was reported that the elderly and the less mobile residents living at the top end of the Stanborough Close find it difficult to manoeuvre in and out of their parking bays due to the close proximity of vehicles parked opposite.

 

The report set out the findings of the informal consultation, the statutory consultation and the recommended course of action.  Approximately 100 properties and businesses had been consulted.  The report also outlined a modification notice (Appendix B) the Council served upon residents and the objections which were received in response to the advertised Orders.

 

The two objections that were received related to the proposed waiting restrictions.  One pertaining to Lemsford Lane and the other from Stanborough Close (shown in Appendix A).

 

The Panel commented on the parking outside the school and the possibility of a lay-by together with the impact on the residents within the vicinity.  The report noted that the Council’s Officers from Landscape and Ecology subsequently recommended refusal of the planned parking improvement in this area as it would necessitate the removal of several mature trees.  Members suggested that the school should notify parents of the parking issues. 

 

RESOLVED

 

That having considered the objections received and in addition the issues raised around equalities and diversity and all the detailed issues in the report, including any proposed mitigating actions, the Panel recommends  to Cabinet to proceed with the implementation of the amended proposed waiting restrictions (Appendix C), for the reasons set out in the report.

 

5.

INTRODUCTION OF WAITING RESTRICTIONS, RESIDENT PERMIT PARKING SCHEME IN VARIOUS ROADS, FRENCH HORN LANE, EAST AND SOUTH WEST WARDS, HATFIELD pdf icon PDF 340 KB

Report of the Corporate Director (Resources, Environment and Cultural Services) on the creation of a traffic regulation order.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Report of the Corporate Director (Resources, Environment and Cultural Services) on the introduction of waiting restrictions, resident permit parking scheme in various roads, French Horn Lane, East and South West wards, Hatfield.  It was noted that within the next year work was due to be started on the redevelopment of Hatfield Town Centre, including proposals to construct a new multi-storey car park in The Common car park.  The redevelopment is likely to cause a level of parking displacement during and after the construction of the new car park.  Residents and businesses most likely be affected in and around the surrounding roads of the town centre and these were being consulted on parking restrictions to minimise the effect of any displacement.  The consultation area of ‘French Horn Lane’ initially covered 23 roads to the south and east of the town centre.  The consultation area was later expanded to include Oaklands Wood and St Albans Road East.

 

The first round of consultation letters had been sent out in January 2018 setting out the scope of the consultation.  Options in the survey form for new restrictions included double yellow lines (DYLs) and permit parking zones (PPZs).  The letter included a proposal to create a Verge Protection Order (VPO) to prevent parking on grass verges and pavements.  There was also an option to ‘Do nothing’ to indicate that no changes were required.

 

The report noted that some roads returned low numbers of responses, less than 20%.  These roads were given a second opportunity to respond in May 2018.  As a result of the responses the French Horn Lane area was split into four separate consultation areas for supplementary consultation and detailed parking designs.  The rest of the report related to just areas 1 and 2.

 

The Panel noted that based on the responses from the first two survey letters sent to French Horn Lane areas 1-4, the majority of respondents favoured a permit scheme to operate Monday to Friday between 8am to 6pm.  760 survey forms were sent out, 192 responses had been received.

 

The overall effect of the proposed restrictions would be to remove all commuter parking.  Businesses and other organisations located within areas 1 and 2 would be entitled to buy permits for their staff (plans shown in Appendix B).

 

Members sought clarification on parking for Blue Badge holders and health carers parking to visit their patients.  Officers advised that no permit was required for Blue Badge users and there are free permits available for family members who are carers.  If parking was required for an event such as a coffee morning; it was advisable to contact the Parking Services Team for advice.  The cost of parking permits for residents and businesses was discussed; officers advised the cost for permits had not changed in the ten years they have been in operation, green travel was also discussed.

 

Officers clarified the areas where the restrictions were being imposed – these being areas 1 and 2 located south of French Horn Lane and either  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.