Re-think! Parking on the High Street Ojay McDonald, Research and Policy Manager Association of Town...
-
Upload
charlotte-garrett -
Category
Documents
-
view
213 -
download
0
Transcript of Re-think! Parking on the High Street Ojay McDonald, Research and Policy Manager Association of Town...
Re-think! Parking on the High StreetOjay McDonald, Research and Policy ManagerAssociation of Town & City [email protected]
Concern Over Parking Fees
Anger over parking charges
Backlash at plans to increase parking charges in town
ITV – Jan 2013
Horncastle News – Jan 2013
Parking charge increases across UK spark anger
BBC News – July 2011
Confusion Over Parking Fees
Contradictory views from industry/academic experts. This has been unhelpful for local
and national policy-makers.
The Need for Clarity
ATCM and BPA agreed to develop guidance on car parking through a joint report to help owners support town centres. This guidance takes additional importance in England due
to business rates retention in 2013.
Motorist vs. Town Centre
Conflict between motorists and traditional urban centres are inevitable and common across developed and quickly
developing nations.
Car ownership is around 34.5 million up from 2.5 million in 1952
Cars are nearly always parked, spending only 3-4% of the duration in transit
Impossible for town centres to accommodate all car users
Motorist vs. Town Centre
Car parks are expensive for a number of reasons including:
• They need to be managed
• They have limited lifespans and so need reinvestment
• There is an opportunity cost for alternative uses
Motorist vs. Town Centre
Parking restrictions of various kinds were inevitable to:
• Recover costs
• Change driver behaviour to moderate demand
Have Parking Restrictions become too Restrictive?
This provides understanding of why restrictions are in place. Free parking is clearly not a panacea for town centres. However, we wanted explore any links
between town centre prosperity and parking fees.
Linking Parking Fees to Town Centre Prosperity
Research was led by Springboard Ltd, who interrogated data from Parking Data &
Research International.
Linking Parking Fees to Town Centre Prosperity
90 diverse town centre locations across the UK were explored, examining the cost of off-
street parking for the first two hours.
Some of the factors taken into consideration were:
• Quantity of parking spaces• Amenities within the town centre
• Footfall
Selecting a Sample
Weekly footfall 2011 Examples
>300,000 Liverpool, Birmingham
250,000-299,999 Sheffield, Plymouth
200,000-249,999 Northampton, York
150,000-199,999 Ipswich, Stafford
100,000-149,999 Blackpool, Swindon
70,000-99,999 Stratford-Upon-Avon, Bridgend
<70,000 Guisborough, Barnet
Finding 1
Parking operators are providing quantity of spaces that equates to the footfall levels achieved by each
location.
Finding 2
There is no clear relationship between car parking charges (set by parking owners/operators) and the quality offer of a location with some mid-range and smaller centres potentially over-charging.
Finding 2
Example locations
Finding 3
The mid-range and smaller groupings of centres that charge more than the national average with regards to their offer have suffered
a higher than average decline in footfall for 2011.
Many Caveats
These findings are not conclusive. Other dimensions of the parking offer have not
been taken into account here. Furthermore, there is no definitive casual link between
parking fees and footfall decline.
Long-Term Research Needed
Long-term effort to monitor data will be important to building a strong evidence
base.
What’s Next?
Councils and private owners must be aware of best practice when developing their
parking offer.
This offer must compliment wider planning for the locality and be part of an
accessibility strategy.
National Planning Policy
Local Authority Plan for the area
Town/City Centre Strategy (or Neigbourhood plan covering the town centre)
Transport and Accessbility Strategy
Plan for Car Parking Provision
Questions?