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Dear Mr Thomas

Re: Freedom of Information Request 3837

Thank you for your recent request to the Council. You asked to be provided with the following information:

Q1. Would you please provide a DETAILED breakdown, item by item, project by project or development by development, of how the revenue generated by the experimental motorcycle parking charge was spent during the period August 2008 (when the charge was introduced) to 30th April 2009. Please provide the exact amount in pounds sterling that was spent on each project/development/item. If all the revenue generated during the period has not yet been spent, please provide a DETAILED breakdown of how the council intends to spend that residual revenue and by when.

Q2. Please also advise any project(s), development(s) or item(s) to which no additional funds would have been allocated should the motorcycle parking scheme had not been experimented.

Q3. Finally, for each project/development/item listed in your detailed breakdown, please briefly explain the reason why the council has decided to spend the revenue specifically generated by the motorcycle parking charge and not use another source of income.

Response

Q1. Would you please provide a DETAILED breakdown, item by item, project by project or development by development, of how the revenue generated by the experimental motorcycle parking charge was spent during the period August 2008 (when the charge was introduced) to 30th April 2009.

It is not possible to provide a detailed breakdown of how the revenue generated by the experimental motorcycle parking charge was spent. This is because the surplus generated in the period requested goes into the Parking Places Reserve Account (PPRA) along with surpluses from other parking activities and, under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, is applied to meet the cost of providing and maintaining parking facilities, highways improvement schemes and public passenger transport services.

For example, in 2008/09, the surplus from all on-street parking activities was £34.4m. This was used to fund £4.2m of highways maintenance, £3.5m of street lighting, £6.5m of freedom passes/concessionary fares/travel permits, £900k of street cleansing, etc".

For the purposes of section 1(4) of the Freedom of Information Act, we do not hold the requested information, and are therefore unable to provide it.

Q2. Please also advise any project(s), development(s) or item(s) to which no additional funds would have been allocated should the motorcycle parking scheme had not been experimented.

While the net revenue generated by permits, including motorcycle parking, was £1.2m, the allocation of funds was based on the total surplus amount of £34.4m.

In 08/09, the expenditure qualifying for PPRA funding is more than amount generated from the on-street surplus. This means that the additional expenditure is funded through other Council income.

For the purposes of section 1(4) of the Freedom of Information Act, we do not hold the requested information, and are therefore unable to provide it.

Q3. Finally, for each project/development/item listed in your detailed breakdown, please briefly explain the reason why the council has decided to spend the revenue specifically generated by the motorcycle parking charge and not use another source of income.

Because the surplus from the motorcycle parking charges went into the PPRA with all other parking-generated surpluses, there was no specific spend linked to the motorcycle parking charge revenue.

For the purposes of section 1(4) of the Freedom of Information Act, we do not hold the requested information, and are therefore unable to provide it.

Further to my letter of 29^th July 2009, I would like to apologise again for the delay in responding to this request, particularly as the requested information was not held. Please note that we are reviewing our processes to ensure that we prevent similar delays occurring in the future.

I hope this fulfils your request. Should you be remain dissatisfied with our handling of your request please refer your complaint to the Information Commissioner, details below:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

www.ico.go.uk

Yours sincerely,

Knowledge & Information Management Team

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Under the Data Protection Act 1998, Data Subjects have rights to challenge, alter or erase the inaccurate and unlawful processing of their information. In the first instance please contact The Data Protection Officer, Information Services, 101 Orchardson Street, London NW8 8EA. If you are not satisfied with our response you may contact The Information Commissioner: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire Sk9 5AF