PARKING INCOME REPORT - HOW MUCH CHISWICK PAYS IN PARKING CHARGES

Full Report on Parking Charges

Rational for Differential Pricing

Table of Revenue from Chiswick CPZs

The Following is a Copy of a Report by the Director of Environmental Services presented to Chiswick Area Committee in February 2002

This report summaries the guidance and regulations surrounding Controlled Parking Zones
(CPZs), how the income generated has been applied and the future funding possibilities.

2.0 Background

2.1 Most of central London, together with Outer London town centres are now covered by Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs).

2.2 Parking spaces in CPZs are controlled by the use of Resident's Permits, Business Permits and Parking Charges all of which generate income for the Council. The Traffic Management and Parking Guidance for London issued by the Government Office for London in 1998 stated that the level of parking charges must be set for traffic management purposes. The primary purpose should be to ration available space and ensure there is a rapid turnover of parking spaces rather than to maximise revenue. The Guidance also states that permit charges should at a minimum cover the cost of operating and enforcing the permit system, but there is no reason to prevent a local authority rationing permits by price.

2.3 The rationale for the parking charging policy and the differential pricing policy is
included in Appendix 5.

2.4 The 1984 Road Traffic Regulation Act (section 55) limits how any surpluses generated from on-street parking activities can be spent. The Act states that any surplus must firstly be used to pay off any deficit from previous years after which surpluses can be used for :
(i) The provision and maintenance of off-street parking facilities,
(ii) The provision or operation of public passenger transport,
(iii) Highway or road improvements.
(iv) If surpluses are not applied at the end of the financial year the
funds can be carried forward to be applied to one of the above
purposes in the future.
This Act was slightly amended by the GLA Act 1999 it states that surpluses can now be used to facilitate the implementation of the London Transport Strategy

3.0 Financial Accounting

3.1 Before the current financial year income generated from the various CPZ schemes and car parks in the Borough was not coded individually in the accounting system. The only split was between on and off street parking. From April 2001 all income has been coded directly to individual CPZs and Car Parks. Therefore the attached income analysis concentrates on the current financial year (Appendix 1).

3.2 The analysis of how much income was generated in previous years, the budgeted surplus and any additional surplus / deficit is included in Appendix 4. This analysis is a Borough wide total because the detail split between individual schemes is not available. All income in excess of the budgeted surplus has always been transferred to the Parking Reserve Account and the funds applied by the Committee of the Council in accordance with the 1984 Act (see paragraph 2.4).

3.3 Most expenditure in 2001/02 can not be coded directly to individual CPZ schemes so the finance team have to split total expenditure in order to find the cost of administering each individual scheme. The costs are split between schemes on the basis of income earned. This basis for allocating costs was chosen because the amount of expenditure on each scheme is closely related to the level of income generated, (ie expenditure on parking attendants, machine maintenance, coin collection / counting, permit administration and PCN processing, etc is closely
correlated to how much income is generated).

3.4 All surpluses made on on-street parking activities are used in accordance with the 1984 Road Traffic Regulation Act (see paragraph 2.3). In Hounslow (in common with the majority of other Councils) there is a target surplus for on-street parking activities included in the base budget. This budgeted surplus is applied to finance expenditure on highway improvements in that financial year.

3.5 Any surplus generated in excess of the budgeted surplus is transferred to the Parking Reserve Account at the end of the financial year (see paragraph 2.3 (iv)). A copy of the PRA is attached (Appendix 3). Again this can only be used in accordance with the 1984 Act and all allocations have to be approved by the Committee of the Council.

3.6 As part of the budget strategy for 2002/03 and the reorganisation of the Parking Section the Committee of the Council has already decided to increase Parking income budget by approximately £1,000,000 in 2002/03. This relates to both on and off street parking. This increases the budgeted surplus and therefore increases the amount of parking income that will be used to fund highway improvements during the year. This in turn reduces the amount available to either transfer to the PRA at the year end or investment in CPZ schemes during the year.

4.0 Parking Surpluses

4.1 Appendix 1 shows a financial summary of each of the CPZs in Chiswick and Appendix 2 shows the position for the whole Borough.

4.2 Columns A, B and C show the latest financial projections for each CPZ scheme.

4.3 Column D shows the total budgeted surplus generated from on-street parking activities (£1,224,600 for the whole Council in 2001/02) and allocates this between various CPZ schemes in the Borough.

4.4 Column E shows the projected income generated from on-street parking net of expenditure and any budgeted surplus. The amount shown in this column has not been applied to any specific purposes in the base budget and will be transferred the Parking Reserve Account at the year end. Once in the PRA the Committee of the Council need to approve any financial drawings.

4.5 Column F represents the capital costs of implementing each scheme. (It should be borne in mind that Central Chiswick and East Chiswick One (EC1) were designed and costed as a single scheme and then split into two during implementation. All the costs of implementing the two schemes were charged to the Central Chiswick scheme).

4.6 In summary the CPZs in Chiswick are forecast to generate £2,176k in 2001/02, but in order to generate this income the Council needs to spend £ 1,068k. In addition the Council's base budget assumes that these CPZ schemes will generate a surplus of £802k in 2001/02. Current projections show that the CPZs in Chiswick will generate an additional £305k over and above the budgeted surplus, (see Appendix 1).

4.7 The budgeted surplus will be transferred to the PRA at the end of the financial year.

5.0 Funding of CPZ Implementation

5.1 The total cost of implementing each CPZ scheme is shown in Column F of Appendices 1 and 2. Schemes are funded from a combination of Section 106 monies, parking income and specific capital grants / borrowing approvals.

5.2 West Chiswick CPZ - a report to the 19th November 2001 meeting estimated that the cost of the scheme would be £300,000. The Head of Finance comments on the report indicated that £260,000 of the anticipated £350,000 Deed of Variation s106 monies from the Chiswick Business Park development had already been applied to the Central Chiswick Scheme. Since that date a further £15,000 has been spent on Central Chiswick CPZ. The former Senior Assistant Director advised that applying the Chiswick Business Park Development money to Central Chiswick CPZ is in accordance with the draft Deed of Variation which states that the monies can be used for parking in the vicinity of the development.

5.3 If no further expenditure takes place on Central Chiswick there is potentially £75,000 available to be applied to West Chiswick scheme, subject to the signing of the Deed of Variation to the s106 agreement. This leaves a shortfall of £225,000.

5.4 Lengthy negotiations between LB Hounslow, LB Ealing and the Developer have resulted in considerable delays in agreeing the detail of the Deed of Variation to the Chiswick Park s106 agreement. At the time of writing the Deed of Variation had not been signed. Until the Deed of Variation has been signed and the money received no further expenditure should be financed from this source.

5.5 Future s106 agreements that may contribute to parking schemes in Chiswick ;
i) Pinnacle / Citadel Development - the s106 agreement includes a contribution of £155,000 to car parking in the vicinity of the development payable on commencement of the work. However the developers have submitted a new planning application for this site so commencement is
unlikely to commence in the near future.
ii) Wing House - this is a current application that has not been approved
iii) Chiswick West Development - this is another current application that has not yet been approved.

5.6 Funding from income - the Committee of the Council have agreed to increase parking income targets by approximately £1,000,000 in 2002/03. Only once the income targets contained in the budget have been achieved can any excess income be used to fund capital expenditure. This excess income is unlikely to be significant in 2002/03 given the budgetary increases already agreed by the Committee of the Council.

5.7 Funding from PRA - previous year's surpluses that are not applied in year are transferred to the PRA. The funds in the PRA can only be transferred with the agreement of the Committee of the Council and used in accordance with the 1984 Act (as amended by 1999 GLA Act). The amendment allows PRA money to be used to facilitate the Mayor's Transport Strategy - this includes spending on parking schemes.

5.8 The Borough Spending Plan guidance for 2003/04 from Transport for London invites Councils to submit proposals for new CPZ schemes. Area Committees will be invited to participate in formulating bids between April and June 2002.

5.9 Work on CPZ scheme implementation can not commence until full funding has
been identified.

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Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Parking Reserve Account

£

1993/94 Defecit from Parking Activities - 246,843

1994/95 Surplus from Parking Activities 67,754

1995/96 Surplus from Parking Activities 64,583

1996/97 Surplus from Parking Activities 565,565

1997/98 Surplus from Parking Activities 81,360

Balance in Parking Reserve Account at 1/4/98 532,419

Transfer to Street Lighting - 200,000

1998/99 Surplus from Parking Activities 103,312

Balance in Parking Reserve Account at 1/4/99 435,731

Transfer to Concessionary Fare - 200,000

Transfer to Bus Subsidy budget - 38,000

1999/00 Surplus on Parking Activities 262,467

Balance in Parking Reserve Account at 1/4/00 460,198

Transfer to Bus Subsidy - 65,600

2000/01 Surplus on Parking Activities 308,644

Balance in Parking Reserve Account at 1/4/01 703,242

2000/01 Surplus from PA Service activities 216,500

VAT Refund 56,541

Concessionary Fares - 350,000

Hand Held Terminals (estimate) - 130,000

Bus Subsidies (maximum) - 202,000

CCTV (estimate) - 21,000

Road Safety - 30,000

Executive proposal - Tram Link Study - 60,000

2001/02 Estimated surplus on Parking Activities 466,000

Est.Balance in Parking Reserve Account at 1/4/02 649,283

Less 2002/03 committed expenditure

Bus Subsidies (maximum) - 252,000

Est.Available Balance in PRA at 1/4/02 397,283

Appendix 4

Notes

1) In the years proceeding 1997/98 the entire surplus on on-street parking activities was transferred to the PRA

This was done to eliminate the Defecit made in 1993/94. Once the deficit had been eliminated only the surplus inexcess of the budget was transferred to the PRA.

2) In 1998/99 £289,384 of parking income was used to fund the implementation of CPZ schemes in Chiswick where other funding was insufficient.

In addition the allocation of the PA Service costs between on and off street parking was revised.

3) The increase in Parking income in 1999/00 and 2000/01 budgets reflects the changes agreed during the budget.

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Appendix 5

PARKING CHARGES - RESIDENTS PERMITS

1. The issue of differential charges for residents' parking permits has been considered by Council Committees on a number of occasions. When the former Environmental Services Committee considered a number of parking policy issues in 1999, it was advised that:- 'Different parts of the borough clearly have different characteristics. In the east of the Borough, parking demand is extremely high with only limited on and off-street provision. Generally the pressure on parking decreases further westwards in the Borough. Public transport accessibility also is generally better in the east of the Borough and poorer in the west. For these reasons, it is recommended that differential charges are maintained in the Borough with higher charges in the east and lower charges in the west.

It is recommended that three different levels of charges are adopted. The highest charge would be for those areas inside the North Circular Road and the lowest charge would be to the west of Syon Lane. This would be in line with the existing situation with the three charges of £75 (East Chiswick, Mid-Chiswick and Bedford Park), £50 (The Butts, Brentford) and £30 (Hounslow, Hounslow West and Twickenham Road).

The £30 charge was not increased last year and therefore it is recommended that the charge be increased to £35 per year from the end of the calendar year. The £50 and £75 charges have only recently been introduced and therefore it is recommended that they are kept at the same rate for the next two years.'

2.0 This recommendation was agreed by the Environmental Services Committee and when considering a report on residents' permit prices in July 200, the Sustainable Development Committee also endorsed this approach.

3.0 When parking permit charges were considered again last year, whilst it was felt that a differential in permit prices should be maintained, the actual differential in prices between the area situated between the North Circular Road and Syon Lane compared with the area inside the North Circular Road was considered to be too great and for this reason, it was decided to reduce the charge for a resident's permit in the Chiswick area from £75 to £70.

SHORT STAY PARKING

4.0 As with residents' parking permits, charges for short stay parking recognise that the area of the borough that lies to the east of the North Circular Road suffers the highest level of traffic congestion and demand for on-street parking space. It is necessary to impose charges that reflect this in comparison to the part of the borough lying to the west of the North Circular Road.

5.0 Accordingly, charges for short stay parking operate on the basis of two charging regimes

i) in the area to the east of the North Circular Road - £1.00 per hour
ii) in the area to the west of the North Circular Road - 80p per hour

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