Meeting documents

ITEM EX11

EXECUTIVE – 11 DECEMBER 2001

FUTURE MANAGEMENT OF PARK & RIDE CAR PARKS

Report by Director of Environmental Services

Introduction

1. There are currently four Park and Ride car parks in the County, all on the outskirts of Oxford. Until now, these have been managed by Oxford City Council. In the case of the Thornhill car park, this has been undertaken under an Agency agreement with the County Council, since the site lies outside the City boundary. Following the introduction of the Council’s new political management system, it has been necessary to enter into a new Agency agreement, which was authorised by the Executive on 6 November. The new agreement is intended to be an interim arrangement, until a longer-term management arrangement can be put in place.
2. Subject to approval of a Project Appraisal – expected to be reported in January 2002 – it is intended to construct a new 800 space Park & Ride car park in North Oxford during 2002, to become operational by late summer. This site too lies outside the City boundary, and this report focuses on how the new car park – and the existing car parks – might be managed in the future. Authority is sought to invite competitive tenders for management of these sites.

Options for Future Management

3. Oxford’s Park and Ride sites should offer the user:

• consistent management, security and staffing arrangements
• identical charges (if any) and identical methods of collection

4. With this in mind, City and County Council officers have been considering how these objectives might best be achieved. The land for the new North Oxford site is being leased by the County Council. When extended, the County Council will also hold the lease for the Thornhill car park, or will acquire the freehold via a Compulsory Purchase Order. It is therefore necessary for the City & County Councils to work closely together if the objectives in 3 above are to be achieved.
5. Until November 2001, The Park & Ride car parks had been operated by the City Council at no cost to the County Council, although the County has funded capital improvements. The newly introduced agreement for the operation of the Thornhill site, will result in payments to the City Council by the County – at least until some form of charging is introduced. It is clear that if it is to continue to operate the Thornhill site on the County’s behalf, the City Council will require an ongoing financial contribution from the County Council. Similarly a County Council contribution would be sought were we to invite the City Council to run the new North Oxford site.
6. Informal discussions have been held with City Council officers about different ways the car parks could be managed. At its core, it is important that an appropriately high level of service is achieved. This would include provision for customer care and security staff, with options for different hours of cover, specifications for cleaning and maintenance regimes and specified response times to remedy any defects. There are a number of different ways in which these tasks could be packaged, but given the substantial costs of the whole operation, it is important that we combine a high quality specification with a cost-effective operation.
7. To ensure we achieve this, it is my view that we need to invite tenders from suitable contractors, including the City Council and the County Council’s parking and maintenance contractors. Tenders would be invited with the work packaged in different ways, but all including the core service specification. Tenderers would be free to submit proposals for as many of the different packages as they choose. The packages are likely to include the following:

• One contractor provides the full service for all five sites under contract to the County Council, with an appropriate contribution from the City Council.
• One contractor provides the full service for all five sites under contract to the City Council, with an appropriate contribution from the County Council. (This would need to be tendered by the City).
• One contractor provides the full service for the Thornhill & North Oxford sites. (The City continues to operate the other 3 sites completely independently).
• The County Council’s Parking and Maintenance contractors provide the full service for the Thornhill & North Oxford sites, utilising their existing contractual rates. (The City continues to operate the other 3 sites completely independently).
• One contractor provides the staffing/security/revenue collection service for all 5 sites, by agreement with the City Council, with the costs being shared between the authorities. (This could be controlled by either Council). Maintenance and cleansing would be undertaken by the County’s existing contractor at North Oxford and Thornhill, and by the City Council’s contractor at the sites inside the City.

8. Specifications are being developed at present. These will include variations, so we can understand how costs would differ, were say the hours of staff cover at the car parks to be increased to cover 24 hour operation. It is likely that there will need to be some trade off between service level and cost, but this can be better undertaken, when we know what the cost differences would be.
9. Because the City Council owns or leases the 3 sites within its boundary, it will be necessary to work closely with them during this process. The City Council’s Executive is likely to consider the issue at some point and this could well influence any decisions on what final arrangements are adopted and possibly, what options are put out to tender. The decision about what management arrangements are adopted will need to be taken by the County Council’s Executive when tenders have been received, and the full advantages and disadvantages and financial implications of each option are known. In the meantime, it is suggested that the Executive Member for Transport be consulted as necessary, and in particular before the tender package is issued.

Environmental Implications

10. The effective operation of Oxford’s Park & Ride car parks will reduce pressures on Oxford and improve environmental conditions in the City.

Financial and Staff Implications

11. The financial implications of managing the car parks could be substantial, although the costs should be offset by income. Consideration is still being given to alternative methods of funding security facilities at the car park, including the concept of a combined ticket covering both bus fare and parking security. This will also be the subject of a future report to the Executive. An annual revenue cost for the Thornhill car park was included in the Project Appraisal reported to the September/October Committee cycle. A Project Appraisal for the new North Oxford site is due to be reported to the Executive in January. In anticipation of this, a provisional sum for operation of this car park has been included in the spending pressures being considered as part of the current budget making process.
12. There could be significant staffing implications resulting from the changes to management of these sites, and this will be addressed in more detail in the report that will be submitted when tenders have been received.

RECOMMENDATIONS

13. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to authorise the Director of Environmental Services to invite tenders for a range of different options for the management of Oxford’s Park & Ride car parks, subject to consulting the Executive Member for Transport on the detailed options to be included in the tender package.

December 2001

Return to top