Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Project Lead will provide a verbal update at the meeting.

Estimated time of item – 45 minutes

The Chair invited the Cabinet Project Lead, Councillor Joel Hirst, to give an update. Councillor Hirst explained that he has been the Cabinet Project Lead since May and he reports to Councillor Manda Rigby. He explained that there is a balance between the administration wanting to move faster on this issue and the reality of the practical details. He explained that there are currently 15 schemes regarding Liveable Neighbourhoods. He outlined the policy objective which is health and wellbeing and safer travel routes. He stated that the issue of Liveable Neighbourhoods was discussed a great deal around the time of the election and the election outcome is seen as a strong mandate.

Regarding Residents Parking Zones (RPZs) Councillor Hirst stated that with the implementation of the Walcot/Snow Hill and Oldfield Park/Westmoreland RPZs, 7 in total have been completed (including during the last administration). He explained that the schemes are broadly cost neutral; the income is ringfenced and people apply for permits online while blue badge holders are free.

Panel members made the following points and asked the following questions:

Councillor Player asked about enforcement. The Cabinet Project Lead explained that the enforcement team had not been increased for a while so would need to look at this in the budget. Regarding the income, he explained that his understanding was that there are rules around excess income from parking schemes which mean it had limited use.

Councillor Player stated that it was important that residents so not feel they are paying for something that can’t be monitored or enforced. She stated that at the moment the scheme is working but students had not started the new term yet.

Councillor Player asked how the permit cost was decided. The Cabinet Project Lead explained that he understood that there had been a market assessment on what was considered reasonable while looking at charges made in other authorities. He added that Bristol may be consulting on increasing their fees.

Councillor Heijltjes stated that she would have appreciated a paper for this item so that she could prepare. She referenced the scheme in Walcot and mentioned some boundary issues with Lambridge. She asked about future plans for RPZs. The Cabinet Project Lead explained that there is a meeting next week to discuss potential new schemes where they will work through requests. He will update the Panel further at their November meeting.

Councillor Halsall stated that there had been a lot of scepticism about RPZs – some people believe it is a cash cow so the information about the funding is useful and needs to be made clear. Councillor David agreed and explained that her ward had had overspill from the neighbouring RPZ – she asked if there was a plan to look at particular types of RPZ. The Cabinet Project Lead stated that the policy is on the website, it was not anticipated that the policy would be replaced soon.

Councillor Johnson stated that it would be useful to have prior information on items  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20