Free parking in York – new revelations

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Proposals to introduce free parking at some City centre car parks were agreed by the Labour Cabinet last week.

The “free parking” plan covers the period between 8:00am and 11:00am on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Only a limited number of car parks will benefit from the change.

The plan has been heavily criticised as it will encourage more traffic onto the highways network between 8:00am and 9:00am when congestion is at its worst.

Labour claimed that the plan was the result of a proposal from businesses in the City

…..but we can reveal that was not the case.

In their original plan businesses wanted to free parking to operate between 9:00am (when most shops open) and 11:00am.

They did favour the concession being available between Thursday and Saturday but wanted to to apply to all car parks.

“Pay on Exit” would also have been introduced at the Castle car park as well as at Marygate.

“Free” car parking report published

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The York Council has sneaked an additional report onto the agenda of its “Cabinet” meeting which is taking place on 24th April.

It will discuss the plans for the free City centre parking scheme – which was originally scheduled to be considered on 6th May.

The change to the agenda has not been formally publicised, so many residents will be unaware that they have very little time – over Easter – to make their views known.

The report says that any continuation of “free” parking – after the Vanguard section S106 monies have run out – will be funded by City centre businesses that will be expected to participate in a “Business Improvement District” (BID).

The last attempt to form a BID in York floundered as most businesses did not wish to subscribe.

The Council has admitted that the scheme will cost it £275,000 in income plus any reduced income resulting from those drivers who switch to the free period from other times of the day (or from those car parks on which charges wills till apply like Bootham Row).

Our estimate of £500,000 a year in lost income seems about right.

The Council seems to have no idea what the impact on the viability of park and ride services will be. No allocation for lost fare revenue is included in the costings.

No consultation with NCP and other private sector car park operators appears to have taken place.

The report is silent on how visitors will be reminded that, if they arrive during a “free” period, they may still need to purchase a pay and display ticket if they intend to continue their stay after 11:00am.

Some Council car parks will still charge £2 an hour during the “free” period. Quite why anyone would chose to pay when they can park for free nearby is not explained!

No assessment is made of the effect that the scheme will have on peak period traffic volumes. There is no acknowledgement of the impact that the change may have on deliveries which will be taking place in the Footstreets during these hours.

No attempt has been made to explain why the free period starts at 8:00am – before many businesses and most shops have opened.

We still believe that this scheme has not been fully thought through although the Council Leader James Al;exander asserts that he has spent 6 months working up the plan!

Contractors brought in to enforce parking restrictions on York Council estates

Over £14,000 raised in fines

A contract has been let by the Council which will see private contractors enforce parking restrictions on Council estates in York.

In the main, the contractors will patrol garage forecourts and communal areas.

A 3 year trial of a system – which involves issuing Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) for £30 to drivers who park in restricted areas – resulted in 900 tickets being issued.

Most were in City centre areas such as Castle Mills although suburban locations like the garage blocks on Tudor Road (21 tickets issued) also formed part of the trial.

Fines levied by site. click to enlarge

Fines levied by site. click to enlarge

Around £14,000, in fine income, was raised by the contractor.

The new contract will extend the enforcement to all similar areas in the City.

The scheme does not cover public highway or verge parking. Damage to verges is one of the biggest problems in some estates with heavy rainfall resulting in verges which have been badly damaged over recent months.
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While we accept that some enforcement is necessary – if only to allow easy access by emergency vehicles – we believe that the Council should reintroduce its programme of providing dropped kerbs/vehicle crossovers, lay-bys and other, off street, parking spaces.

Where necessary, verges should be reinforced with matrix surfaces.

The Councils decision was taken last week in another “behind closed doors” decision.

The background paper can be read here.

Tour de France – Tadcaster Road parking arrangements revealed.

The Council has now announced two further campsites on its web site.

They will be at Millennium Bridge and the Designer outlet.
Tour De France finish
Again no consultation has taken place with affected residents and the information has yet to appear on the official TdF website

Official “all day” car parking is being offered at the “old” Askham Bar Park and Ride site for £8. By June this car park will have closed as the new adjacent site will have been brought into use. People will be expected to walk from there to the Knavesmire.

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Mystery also surrounds the costs of repairing highways on the TdF route. No provision has been made in the Councils budget for essential repairs although the whole of the highways network is in increasing need of major investment.

All decisions on the organisation of the TdF locally are being taken behind closed doors.

Car parking chaos hits York City centre

As the sales get into full swing, angry motorists are demanding to know why York has stopped providing car parking space availability information?

Click to access "live" parking and travel information

Click to access “live” parking and travel information

Until 2011, anyone could access the Councils web site and see how many spaces were unoccupied at each car park.

That information has now disappeared although other Councils still provide the service.

The information isn’t even provided for York’s showcase Park and Ride sites

Today car parks like Castle were full but the Council’s travel service hasn’t bothered to use its “twitter” feed to update potential users.

Signs on the approach roads to the City centre, which indicate space availability, are also unreliable, so many motorists are driving round and round looking for spaces.

This increases pollution and congestion on City centre roads.

Sadly it is another example of new technology providing information that is less useful than what was available a decade ago.

More disabled parking spaces in York

City of York Council is increasing the amount of disabled parking spaces in York’s city centre.

Blue badge holders are able to park free of charge anywhere in all council owned car parks, which provide a number of spaces that are wider and set aside specifically for use by blue badge holders only.

Work has now begun on expanding the number of disabled spaces in car parks in the city centre to try to better serve those who have restricted mobility.

The number of disabled spaces has increased in the following areas by:
•· Castle car park- increased from six to 13 spaces
•· Bootham Row car park – increased from two to nine spaces
•· Monk Bar car park- increased from three to seven spaces
•· Piccadilly car park- increased by five – which will see an increase in the number of spaces set aside for use at the shopmobility scheme

Groups and individuals can submit suggestions to be considered by emailing highway.regulation@york.gov.uk

More behind closed doors decisions made in York

The York Council has made several decisions about new parking restrictions in the Guildhall and Clifton wards. In summary they are:

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Newborough Street

Approved the advertising of No Waiting at any Time Restrictions and identified space for a Car Club vehicle in Newborough Street (Clifton Ward). Click for more details

Gladstone Street/ Dennison Street

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click for map

“No Waiting at any Time Restriction” on Gladstone Street and Dennison Street to prevent obstructive parking taking place on footways, as well as inconsiderate parking which blocks the entrance to the play area and private driveway access. .

The issue related to parking conflicts since new homes were built on the Minster Engineering site. The Council required only 1 parking space per property but this has proved to be inadequate with parking being forced onto pavements and neighbouring streets

Council agreed to overturn the objections made to a proposed amendment to the Traffic Regulation Order located within Guildhall Ward and implement restrictions as advertised. click for more details

Nearly 3000 blue badge holders in York

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click to enlarge

Nearly 3000 residents have been issued with “blue badges” in York.

The badges entitle the owner to park “on street” closer to amenities than otherwise would be the case.

The vast majority of the badges have been issued to those with walking disabilities or who receive DLA.

In addition there is a green badge scheme in operation for the severely disabled. This allows access to parking within the City centre.

The York Council controversially refused to exempt green badge holder’s from the Lendal Bridge access restrictions a couple of months ago.

Applications details can be found by clicking here

Bus use in York down by 10% last year

Bus use click to enlarge

Bus use click to enlarge

Over a million fewer journeys were made by bus last year in York.

This is equivalent to a 10% reduction in “stage carriage” service use. The figures are described as “provisional”.

The Council has yet to respond fully to a Freedom of Information request on bus usage in the City.

Requests for the City to publish bus reliability information are also mired in a legal wrangle.

Although Park and Ride use increased from 4.1 to 4.3 million trips, it did not offset what is the largest single year decline ever recorded in public transport use in the City.

The start of the decline can be traced back to 2011 when the Council confronted the major provider of services in the City (First) in an attempt to get the futuristic ftr taken off York’s roads.

The ftr had been popular with passengers but the dispute led to a period of conflict between the Council and bus operators.

Recent attempts to “hype” a fares reduction through the media proved to be ill judged as many users found that their journey was actually coasting more.

The Council announced at its last meeting that it is scrapping the Quality Bus Partnership which has been a liaison point between bus operators, passenger representatives and the Council.

It will be replaced by another”behind closed doors” discussion group

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NB. Following on from the bad news about reduced footfall in the City, the Council report has also revealed a drop in car park use from 1.62 to 1.52 million.

They are forecasting a net shortfall of £250k (3.5%) from parking income following data from the first six months.

The decline in use followed a decision by the new Labour Council to implement a 36% increase in parking charges.

Ford owners most likely to get parking fine in York

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The Council has published a list of the makes of car that have attracted fines for parking outside allotted bays.

The list covers the last 5 years.

click for larger list

click for larger list

Top of the list are Ford owners, followed by Vauxhall and Volkeswagon.

In 2012/13 Mercedes tied with Volkswagon for third place

NB. At the end of 2012, the most common car in Great Britain was the Ford Focus (1.4 million) followed by the Ford Fiesta (1.3 million), a situation unchanged on the year before.

In total, Ford accounted for 15 per cent of all cars and Vauxhall for 12 per cent.

The top five marques (Ford, Vauxhall, Volkswagen, Peugeot and Renault) accounted for 48 per cent of all licensed cars in Great Britain.

The next ten (Toyota, BMW, Nissan, Citroen, Honda, Mercedes, Audi, Fiat, Rover and Volvo) take the total to over 81 per cent.

There were over 1 million cars licensed from each of the top ten marques (Ford to Honda).