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ITEM EX10

EXECUTIVE – 17 APRIL 2002

WEST OXFORD RESIDENTS’ PARKING SCHEME REVIEW

Report by Director of Environmental Services

1. A review of the West Oxford residents parking scheme was started by Oxford City Council when it had a Highway Agency Agreement. The initial proposals were formed following a meeting with residents, the Neighbourhood Watch Association and Oxford City ward members.
2. A report on these initial proposals by the City Council’s Acting Director of Community Services, to both the City Council’s Highways & Traffic Committee and Strategy & Resources Committee, is available in the Members’ Resource Centre. The review is now being carried through to completion by our Highway Management Centre. Thirteen letters of comment have been submitted in response to the public notices and these have been summarised in Annex 1, along with the observations of the Director of Environmental Services. A plan showing the revised parking layout, together with copies of the letters of public comment, a copy of the public notices and the statement of reasons have been placed in the Members’ Resource Centre for reference.

Formal Public Consultation Issues

3. Formal consultation on the revisions to the West Oxford residents’ parking scheme commenced on 29 November 2001 for a period of three weeks.
4. The preliminary consultation included the issue of permit restraint. This received widespread support at the informal public exhibition held in the West Oxford Community Centre on 10 and 11 January 2000. The proposal for restraining the number of permits considers limiting the number of residents’ parking permits to a maximum of three permits per dwelling as from June 2002 and to reduce that limit further, to two permits per dwelling by June 2003. Only one letter expresses concern about the introduction of permit restraint, and that letter also refers to the difficulty residents face in finding a parking space, which is the reason for having a limit on the number of permits issued.
5. Letter 8 objects to the provision of a doctor’s parking space in South Street, Osney. This space had previously been requested during the preliminary consultation by a GP living in the street, who is eligible for the normal residents entitlement to park in the controlled zone, but requested a doctor’s bay in order to ease the burden of parking outside his own home when on ‘call-out’ duty. This is a recurring issue because the BMA badge scheme does not permit the use of the BMA badge for use in a doctor’s parking bay when not on a medical visit or call-out. The whole question of designated parking for doctors when parking outside their own homes may need to be reviewed separately; in this case, the recommendation is not to designate a doctor’s bay.

Proposed Modifications

6. Following the formal public consultation, a number of further amendments are now being proposed:

1. To replace the existing single yellow line part-time waiting restriction, outside properties numbered 28-34 in Alexandra Road, with more ‘permit holders only’ parking.
2. To abandon the proposed cycle parking stand in Alexandra Road and to introduce an additional ‘permit holders only’ parking place instead.
3. To ensure that the ‘No-through’ signage at the entrance to Mill Street is adequate in discouraging larger vehicles, such as lorries, from using Mill Street as a turning area.
4. To not support the proposed inclusion of a doctor’s parking space, along South Street, in the scheme at this time until a full review of the Council’s policy on the provision of parking spaces for doctors outside their homes is determined and reported to a future meeting of the Executive.
5. To provide additional ‘permit holders only’ parking on the existing Disabled person’s parking bay in Duke Street outside the period of operation, for use by residents during the evenings after 6.30p.m. until 8.00a.m. the following morning and all day on Sundays.
6. To introduce a limit of three residents’ parking permits per dwelling as from June 2002 and to reduce that limit to two permits per dwelling from June 2003.
   
   

Financial Implications

7. The cost of the physical measures to implement the revisions to the scheme is estimated as £6,600.

Implications for People Living in Poverty

8. There may be an implication on those persons on low-incomes who are living in shared ownership or multiple occupancy housing, once the permit restraint policy comes into full effect. To minimise the impact, it was previously agreed by the Oxford City Council Highways & Traffic Committee that the occupants of properties registered with the City Council as houses in multiple occupation would each be allowed a single allocation of permits for every self-contained unit of accommodation contained within that dwelling, instead of the maximum limit of two permit allocations per dwelling proposed for all other households. The current proposal to introduce permit restraint of two permits per dwelling will be gradually phased over a two-year period to allow those living in a shared property, where the individual units are not entirely self-contained, time to adapt to the new permit restraint policy.

RECOMMENDATION

9. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to approve the making and implementation of the advertised order as illustrated by drawing no. 271/26777a, subject to the minor modifications set out in paragraph 6 (a)-(f) of the report.

DAVID YOUNG
Director of Environmental Services

Contact Officer: Peter Egawhary, Environmental Services Tel: (01865) 815857

April 2002

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