Cllr Howard Marshall has requested, as is his constitutional right as a member of the Select Committee, that the following item be included on the agenda:
“In light of the uncertainty regarding revenue streams coming from car parking charges and the possibility of them being reduced there is need to better understand the impact this will have on bus subsidies plus whether or not the projected deficit on car parking revenue can be recovered from elsewhere in this current year’s budget.”
The Committee is required to decide whether this matter is of sufficient priority to be added to the work programme and to determine how best to undertake any subsequent scrutiny review.
The Committee is asked to note that a budget monitoring report is expected to be considered by Cabinet on 18 October which will include details on how the Council expects to absorb associated costs in relation to revised car parking charges in Salisbury following resolution made at the extraordinary Cabinet meeting on 19 August, as well as the projected shortfall in income reported to Cabinet on 26 July. Further, a review report on car parking charges across the County is expected to be considered at Full Council on 8 November.
The Cabinet member for Transport and Head of Finance will be in attendance to answer any questions arising.
Minutes:
At the invitation of the Chairman, Cllr Howard Marshall put forward the reasons why he wished the new county-wide Car Parking Charges (as adopted at the Cabinet meeting on 14 December 2010 and Full Council meeting on 22 February 2011 and amended thereafter) to be scrutinised by the committee. His principal concern was the effects that a potential shortfall in the budget of the Department of Neighbourhood and Planning would have upon services such as rural buses which were at least partly funded by parking revenues.
Cllr Marshall proposed that a task group be set up to consider the issue. Cllr Brown seconded the motion.
The Head of Finance, Andy Brown, confirmed that the expected shortfall was £540,000 over the financial year, and that officers were looking at areas across the entire department of Neighbourhood and Planning, to find ways to reduce this shortfall. A report would be presented at the 18 October meeting of Cabinet.
The shortfall was county-wide, with some variation from town to town the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport explained. More accurate year-end figures were awaited to provide data with which to evaluate the policy. Regarding Salisbury changes to the Park and Ride schemes had saved £300,000 and the Vision plan necessitates that the present central car park be redesigned.
The Cabinet member referred committee members to his recent delegated decision HT-032-11 regarding proposals for changes to Bus Services. He explained that of the circa £30 million budget of the Council’s Passenger Transport Unit, very little was discretionary spending. The two areas where the council did spend were to provide post-16 educational transport and to subsidise bus routes. Wherever possible measures had been taken to save in areas other than the important and sensitive area of bus services – for example through reducing the operational cost of the county’s park and ride services and renegotiating PTU contracts where possible.
Following these efforts, a package of measures to save £600,000 from bus services had been agreed which sought to achieve the necessary savings. The need for savings in bus service spending was minimised by the decision to increase car parking charges specifically to raise income for this purpose.
The committee then debated whether or not to establish a task group to investigate the subject. The motion was defeated.
Discussion focused on the necessity for full and reliable data on the effects of the car parking charges to be made available to the committee and the timescale for this to be done. The Cabinet member highlighted the point that more accurate figures regarding car park revenue were expected by the end of September.
The Committee noted that Car Parking charges were subject to a review which would report to the meeting of Council on 08 November.
Resolved:
That the Committee consider Car Parking Charges as a full item on the agenda of the next meeting, with the understanding that a suitable report will be circulated in advance of the meeting, to provide details on the following:
· Full details of the estimated shortfall in parking revenue, with a countywide total and an area-by-area breakdown, and showing a comparison with the revenues prior to the changes to the car parking charges.
· The wider economic context, using data from statistical neighbours if possible.
· Effects on Traders to be made clear, and differentiated from the effects of the recession.
· Detail on the nature and extent of the link between revenue from car parking and the provision of bus services / subsidies.