To receive feedback on the consultation undertaken for the Local Transport Plan Car Parking Strategy.
Officer’s: Alan Creedy, Head of Service for Sustainable Transport and Cllr Dick Tonge, Cabinet member for Highways and Transport.
Minutes:
The Board received information from Councillor Dick Tonge, Cabinet member for Highways and Transport, on the outcome of the consultation process.
The review had been carried out because prior to the formation of a unitary Council, the four districts had run their car parking in four different ways. As there were many issues to consider, the council had to look at the whole scheme to find a more rational approach.
The consultation on Mouchel’s report was open from 12 July to 3 September 2010, during that time 600 responses had been received. Some of the findings were:
Residents’ parking:
Other policies and issues:
Southern Wiltshire Responses
• 7 Total respondents
• The latest park and ride was very close to us but there seems little point getting a car out just to park there especially as you could not lug all your shopping on with you
• Downton had recently had the bus service substantially reduced and small villages within the parish such as Charlton All Saints had virtually no bus service at all.
Questions and comments were then received, some of these were:
Councillor Devine added that the rural communities had little choice if they wished to visit the city centre, as they had to use either the bus or car. What people wanted was to keep the charges as low as possible. He also noted that millions of pounds came out of parking charges, which helped to keep the council tax down, and that it was a balancing act that Wiltshire Council seemed to have got right at the moment.
Councillor Tonge added that the consultation had to be detailed enough to provide all the factual information and that work would be undertaken to look at the consistency of all future consultations.
A report would be produced and submitted to Cabinet on 14 December 2010, followed by:
· Jan-Mar 2011: Statutory procedures