Issue - meetings

Purpose of Report

To provide feedback to the Executive on the outcomes of the Resident Parking Scheme consultation, supporting the reduction of permits per household from three to two.

Decision

That the Executive approves the reduction in the maximum number of permits available per household from three to two and agrees to implement this on a phased basis from 1 April 2018 and thereafter as permits become due for renewal.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

None.

Reason for Decision

The development and implementation of Resident Parking Schemes in Lincoln had been well established over many years and was now in place in over 19 zones, covering a significant part of the city. Although no residents would wish to pay for on-street parking, it was generally acknowledged that in order to defend residents’ ability to find a place to park near their homes then an authorisation scheme had to be operated which did incur a cost.

The current scheme allowed for a single household to apply for up to three passes but other than this there were no restrictions on the overall passes issued for a given scheme or area. It was often the case therefore that there were more passes issued than spaces available.

In recent months the Council, through elected members, had started to receive complaints that schemes were becoming overpopulated in their areas and as a consequence were not providing the parking opportunities for local residents as intended.

On 1 October 2016 the City of Lincoln Council commenced a full consultation with all permit holders. This ran until 31 October 2016 and consisted of a questionnaire sent to 4,480 households, with 404 responses received. 73% supported a Resident Parking Scheme consisting of up to two passes per household.

It was agreed that mitigation within Resident Parking Schemes to reduce the maximum number of passes from three to two per household would support local communities and reduce current pressures and tensions caused by overpopulation of existing schemes.