Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Salisbury Area Board and invited the members of the Board to introduce themselves.

Also present were Councillor John Thomson (Deputy Leader of the Council) and Councillor Dick Tonge (Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport).

The Chairman explained the background for holding the meeting, noting that there was a huge level of public interest in the issue of Car Parking charges in Salisbury.  The Area Board Councillors had been lobbying Wiltshire Council’s Cabinet to ensure the return of a 1-hour parking option, and the meeting was to allow the public and business community to air its views for the Area Board to take forward.

Apologies for absence had been received from:

·         Leader of Salisbury City Council – Cllr Su Thorpe

·         Marianna Dodd – Salisbury Community Area Manager

·         Stephanie Denovan – Service Director for the Salisbury Area Board

There were none.

Councillor John Thomson (Deputy Leader of the Council) will set out the background to the current situation with regard to Car Parking charges in Salisbury.

Councillor Dick Tonge gave a brief overview of the background to car parking in the Salisbury area.

As part of setting the County-wide car parking strategy in 2010, a consultation had been undertaken between July and September, incorporating the following:

• Press release with article in Salisbury Journal
• Emails/letter to around 8,000 contacts
• Documents on Council website and in libraries
• Announcement at Salisbury Area Board meeting on 22 July 2010
• Presentation on feedback at 30 September 2010 meeting
• Cabinet meeting on 14 December 2010
• Full Council meeting on 22 February 2011

As part of the consultation, Salisbury City Centre Management had responded in support of a 2-hour minimum charge.  This, and other responses, such as a petition from Mere, had been taken into account in the final decision.

Councillor Tonge also referred to the services which were funded by revenue from car parking charges:

• Bus Services – Around half of all bus journeys in Wiltshire (5 out of 10 million journeys annually) were subsidised by the Council, costing around £1.05 million per year in Salisbury alone.  One of the changes to local government funding arrangements was the removal of the fuel subsidy for bus services; this would create further impact on the bus subsidy.
• Park and Ride – This helped to reduce traffic congestion, air pollution, carbon emissions and noise in the city.  Also, by reducing the usage of city-centre car parks, it allowed valuable land to be released for new development.  The subsidy for Park and Ride was £1.3 million in 2010/11 and £624,000 in 2011/12

It was noted that all income from parking was ring-fenced to these transport services and could not be used to fund other services.  This was set against the context of the general financial pressure on Wiltshire Council with cuts of over £30 million in government funding this year and next, and the need to invest to meet anticipated increases in service demand (e.g. £3.3 million on elderly and vulnerable adults and £700,000 in waste services)

In addition, the general economic climate in the UK had seen a drop in retail spending, and car park usage was down in most retailing centres.

By contrast, Salisbury bus passenger numbers were up by approximately 2% over the past year, and recent months had been more encouraging.  In addition, Park and Ride usage figures had increased slightly over the past six months, although this may be partly attributable to the summer tourism trade.

Other issues which related to overall car parking strategy in Salisbury included the following:

• Air Pollution – Salisbury was a hot spot for air pollution, and so it was considered important to reduce traffic and congestion in the city centre.
• Salisbury Vision – The Vision was developing a number of projects to regenerate areas within the city, including the Marketplace, and the Maltings/Central Car Park, and other smaller car parks.  These would result in fewer city centre parking spaces.
• South Wiltshire Core Strategy – Around 6,000 new houses and 8,000 jobs were proposed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4a

The Chairman will invite questions and comments from the public and from the Area Board Councillors.

The Chairman will summarise the main points made, following which the Area Board will consider whether it wishes to forward any issues to the Cabinet, in the form of a recommendation.

Before inviting comments from the members of the Area Board, the Chairman asked for a show of hands from the public.  The view was overwhelmingly in support of the reintroduction of 1-hour parking, and for the immediate reduction of the 2-hour parking while the process of bringing back the 1-hour charge was undertaken.  Following a further show of hands it was established that the room would prefer a £2 charge for 2-hours and £1/£1.20 for 1 hour.

The Chairman then sought comments from members of the Area Board:

·         In terms of Salisbury’s potential as a tourist destination it was stated that Salisbury was unique and special within Wiltshire, and so needed to be promoted independently of Wiltshire as a whole.

·         The point was made that issue of parking demonstrated the need for local input and local knowledge into the decision-making process.

·         It was suggested that one or two of the Park and Ride sites could be closed down, as most cities had fewer than five sites.  However, Councillor Tonge responded that the sites has been designed to meet the main traffic routes into the city; closing one site would mean routing some traffic through the city to another site, which would undermine the aim of keeping traffic out of the city.

·         The view was expressed that Southampton should remain the main comparator for parking charges as a retail competitor, although Southampton currently offered a better retail choice that Salisbury.  This highlighted the need to support the Salisbury Vision to help increase and develop retail choice in Salisbury.

·         At the Chairman’s request for a show of hands, the majority of those present would support a scheme to request a voluntary £1 donation towards bus travel, from holders of concessionary bus passes.  Councillor Thomson reiterated that this was not considered to be legal under the current system, but commented that John Glen could lobby the government to look at changing this.

ACTION: John Glen MP

·         Another show of hands demonstrated that the room did not support the suggestion of a parking redemption scheme, whereby some businesses would refund parking costs to customers.

Following discussion and debate, the following resolutions were moved, seconded and agreed:

Decision

1.     Having heard the views expressed this evening by the people of Salisbury, the Salisbury Area Board recommends to Wiltshire Council’s Cabinet that:

a)    the 1-hour parking option for off-street car parks in Salisbury be reintroduced as soon as possible;

b)   in the interim and while the process of reinstating the 1-hour charge is taking place, the 2-hour charge be immediately reduced; and

c)    following the reintroduction of 1-hour parking charge as at 1a) above, the charges be set as follows:

·         1 hour: £1.20

·         2 hours: £2.00

2.     The Salisbury Area Board recognises that the Cabinet is faced with a difficult decision in how to find the costs of the proposed measures set out at 1a, 1b and 1c above.

3.     The Salisbury Area Board wishes to ensure that Wiltshire Council engages in 2012 at an earlier  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4c

The Chairman thanked everyone for attending and noted that the next meeting of the Salisbury Area Board would be held on Thursday 15 September 2011, 7pm at South Wiltshire Grammar School for Girls, Stratford Road, Salisbury SP1 3JJ.