Agenda item

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 for Salisbury and Wilton over the next 15 years. 

Councillor Tonge set out the revenue implications which would apply if the Council were to re-introduce the 1-hour charge, noting that the new charges had reduced the cost of parking for 2 hours from £2.50 to £2.20.