Agenda item

Car Parking Fees and Charges 2020/21

This report seeks the agreement of the Committee for off street parking fees and charges during 2020/21 as proposed by the Car Park Working Group. It also proposes changes to the operational hours of Hook Road car park and some alterations to the current charging schedules within our car parks.

Decision:

Following consideration, it was resolved:

That the Committee:

(1) Agreed the changes to car park fees identified by the Car Park Working Group in Annex 1 to the report;

(2) Agreed the changes to car park permit fees identified by the Car Park Working Group in Annex 2 to the report;

That the Committee agreed in principle:

(3) a) To Hook Road car park being opened on a Sunday from 8:30am to 5:30pm.

b) That the period applicable for a discount fee for users of the Rainbow Leisure Centre who park in Hook Road Car Park is reduced from a stay of up to 3 hours to a stay of up to 2 hours.

(4) a) To remove the maximum stay tariff in the car parks at the Ashley Centre, Town Hall and Hope Lodge available from 1pm and 3pm.

b) To remove the maximum stay tariff in the car parks at Hook Road, Depot Road and Upper High Street available from 3pm.

c) To introduce a pre-payable evening rate in the Ashley Centre which will be available from 6pm – 11:59pm, so long as the user leaves by midnight.

(5) a) To the standard day time charges to apply in Bourne Hall car park for the period between 7am and 9am Monday to Saturday.

b) To the removal of the up to 30 minutes tariff in Dorset House and Ewell High Street car parks.

c) To the introduction of a weekly ticket in Dorset House and Ewell High Street car parks.

d) To the introduction of charging in Bourne Hall, Dorset House and Ewell High Street on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

(6) a) To the extension of the daily rate tariff in West Hill car park to cover from 5am to 8am.

b) To the introduction of an evening tariff in West Hill car park.

c) To the introduction of charging in West Hill car park on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

d) That blue badge parking in West Hill car park is charged as per the rules in other Epsom town centre pay and display car parks.

(7) To the introduction of an Ashley Centre parker card for those who work in Epsom town centre.

That the Committee:

(8) Authorises the Chief Legal Officer to give such notice(s) and/or make such order as is considered necessary in order to give effect to the above recommendations. That any representations to these proposals are brought back to Environment & Safe Communities Committee in January 2020.

Minutes:

The Committee received a report seeking the agreement of the Committee for off street parking fees and charges during 2020/21 as proposed by the Car Park Working Group. The report also proposed changes to the operational hours of Hook Road car park and some alterations to the current charging schedules within the Council’s car parks.

The following matters were considered:

a) Changes to fees and Charges. The Committee considered the proposed changes to car park fees and charges. It was noted that car park tariffs (excluding permits) had not increased in April 2019. Fees and charges for 2020/21 were proposed by the Car Park Working Group following consideration of a number of factors, including the tariffs set by other nearby Boroughs/Districts. Following a question as to whether reducing fees would increase usage and revenue, the Committee was informed that retail studies of the Borough in recent years had indicated that the most important influence on visits was the nature of the retail offering provided, not the car park charge.

It was noted that the Town Hall and Hope Lodge car parks were regularly full. The Ashley Centre car park was not at capacity on all days, and it was proposed to introduce a parker card for the car park to increase use.

b) Discounted parking in Hook Road for Rainbow Centre users. It was proposed to reduce the duration of discounted parking at Hook Road Car Park for Rainbow Leisure Centre users from 3 to 2 hours. A member of the Committee raised concern that this would impact upon users of the new Rainbow Play Park, which operated sessions of 2 hours. The Committee considered that any concerns regarding this change would included within the responses to public consultation, and taken into account when deciding whether to proceed with the proposal at its meeting in January 2020.