Dear Camden Borough Council,

I understand from correspondence I have seen from Camden
councillors and officers that a pay by phone parking trial period
will commence between January and March 2010.

Please can you advise whether the council will be trialling the pay
by phone parking technology by using the Partnerships in Parking
(PiP) scheme lead by Westminster City Council and of which Camden
is a member. If so, please can you confirm that Camden will be
using the Verrus pay by phone technology. Please aslo advise how
much worth of fees (in total) Camden will be paying Westminster
City Council to trial their parking infrastructure.

If the council's intention is not to use the Westminster lead PiP
scheme to trial the pay by phone parking technology, please advise
the basis on which such trial will take place, who the chosen
supplier will be and what tendering process has been taking place
before selecting your preferred supplier. Please provide details of
potential suppliers that might have presented their case to the
council and the reason(s) why they have been turned down.

Yours faithfully,

M Laurent

Dear M Laurent,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request, which has been passed
to me for reply.

In response to your questions, I can confirm that at this stage no
detailed investigation of pay by phone parking has been completed. The
Council will of course seek to consult relevant stakeholders prior to
the scheme being initiated.

I trust that this clarifies our current position regarding cashless
parking.

Yours sincerely,

Matthew Little
Principal Customer Services Team Leader

Telephone: 020 7974 4674

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Dear Mr Little,

I am not quite sure I understand your response in the light of a
statement that was made by Roy Turner (Principal Transport Planner)
in which he says that "Nicolina Cooper has indicated that the pay
by phone trial is likely to commence Jan-March 2010, and
implemented maybe a year after that if the trial is successful".

Also, Syed Hussain (Senior Engineer) has advised Councillor Chris
Knight the following: "I can confirm that we will be looking into
the pay by phone trial, which is likely to commence Jan-March 2010,
and implemented maybe a year after that if the trial is
successful".

(source:
http://forum.notobikeparkingtax.com/disc...).

Therefore, please can you review your response in the light of the
above, as I am surprised that no detailed investigation of pay by
phone parking has been completed at this stage, given that the
trial is to commence in quarter 1 of 2010. You may want to seek
clarification from Syed Hussain, Roy Turner and Nicola Cooper
before coming back to me.

Also, you say that "the Council will of course seek to consult
relevant stakeholders prior to the scheme being initiated". If this
is the case, surely the consultation phase must be (almost)
completed by now if the trial is to commence next month. Please
clarify.

So going back to the initial question, I need to know whether
Camden will trial the pay by phone parking technology by using the
Partnerships in Parking (PiP) scheme lead by Westminster Council,
or whether you will go your own way. By now, a decision in this
respect should have been made given that the trial is due to
commence in the new year. If Camden are to take advantage of the
PiP scheme, please advise the fee that will be payable to
Westminster Council, as I understand this is a fixed fee charged to
all members of the scheme when they decide to use it.

Yours sincerely,

M Laurent

Dear Mr Laurent,

I note the comments from my colleagues Mr Turner and Mr Hussain,
however, I would like to reiterate that my initial response to your
enquiry was accurate. To clarify, at this stage no detailed
investigation of pay by phone parking has been completed.

Yours sincerely

Matthew Little
Principal Customer Services Team Leader

Telephone: 020 7974 4674

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