Dear Sir or Madam,

Please can you let me know what consultation was carried out on the
decriminalisation of parking in West Wiltshire.

I am particularly interested in Bradford on Avon and whether the
provision of additional parking in the town centre was investigated
and what impact upon residents around Wooley Street would result
from the displacement of parking from Kingston Lane and 1 hour
spaces.

I am also interested in the impact assessment of the creation and
enforcement of the 1 hour zones upon the residents of Frome Road
and the surrounding area.

Finally please can you let me know how many parking tickets were
issued in the first month of decriminalisation in the District
broken down by town.

Yours faithfully,

Shane McCracken

Thank you for your request for information. This will be dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

It will be forwarded to the officer responsible for freedom of information who will formally acknowledge your request and deal with the matter.

Mr McCracken,

I write in response to the Freedom of Information that you submitted on 14 July 2008 regarding the introduction of Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) in West Wiltshire. I will address each of the points you raised in turn.

The method of implementation and running of CPE is dictated by legislation and does not make any charge to existing on street controls. In effect the only part of on street parking enforcement that changes is the Council becoming the Enforcement Authority rather than the Police. Implementing CPE is therefore not subject to consultation requirements in the same way that introducing new waiting restrictions would be.

As part of introducing CPE the County Council are carrying out reviews of all current restrictions in the five towns across the District. This will involve identifying areas where restrictions may no longer be needed, areas additional restrictions are required as well as identifying needs for additional parking places. This was not carried out before CPE was introduced as it takes time for parking patterns to adjust and settle. It is therefore necessary to carry out the reviews once CPE has been operating for some time, ideally six to twelve months. There will inevitably be displacement of cars as part of introducing CPE. The effects of this may well be looked at as part of the reviews I have detailed above.

The one hour time limited bays in Frome Road were not recently introduced or introduced as part of CPE. I have made investigations with the County Council and discovered that it was in fact introduced in 1975. In accordance with data protection legislation they no longer hold correspondence relating to the Order covering the bays, but do retain a copy of the sealed Order. The County Council have also confirmed that they would have carried out the required statutory consultation procedure at the time the restriction was first introduced.

Between 16 June 2008 and 16 July 2008 the number of Penalty Charge Notices issued in West Wiltshire was as follows;

Bradford on Avon 282
Melksham 157
Trowbridge 722
Warminster 124
Westbury 107.

I trust the information I have provided answers all the points you raised.

Regards

Richard Sayer
Parking Manager
Property and Commercial Services
West Wiltshire District Council
01225 776655 extension 514
[email address]

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