Issue - meetings

The amendments to the Parking Strategy were adopted by changing the parking management arrangements and implementing the parking fees structure in Gwynedd to be implemented from 1 April 2021. It was agreed on an additional late adjustment to the report, reconciling the enforcement hours of Band 1 Car Parks to be operational between 10am and 4:30pm, and to keep the income level under review during 2021/22, with a view to assist the Environment Department should the real income from parking fees be lower than the target in the budget due to this late adjustment. The Head of Environment was authorised to take the necessary statutory steps to implement the revised fee structure from 1 April 2021.

The report was submitted by Cllr Gareth Griffith.

DECISION

·         The amendments to the Parking Strategy were adopted by changing the parking management arrangements and implementing the parking fees structure in Gwynedd to be implemented from 1 April 2021. It was agreed on an additional late adjustment to the report, reconciling the enforcement hours of Band 1 Car Parks to be operational between 10am and 4:30pm, and to keep the income level under review during 2021/22, with a view to assist the Environment Department should the real income from parking fees be lower than the target in the budget due to this late adjustment.

·         The Head of Environment Department was authorised to take the necessary statutory steps to implement the revised fee structure from 1 April 2021.

DISCUSSION

The report was submitted, noting that it was an item that had been discussed for a while but it had been held back as a result of the pandemic. It was stated that Council policies had not changed for many years and that the Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee had resolved to create a task-force to examine the county's arrangements. It was highlighted that this report was the result of the task-force's work.

The Head of Environment Department added that the current strategy had been adopted back in 2015. It was explained that a number of things had changed since then such as an increase in electric vehicles, less use of cash along with an increase in the number of outdoor events. Attention was also drawn to the increase seen during lastsummer in the number of motor homes. It was emphasised that these had highlighted more challenges in terms of parking.

It was noted that the Cabinet and the Full Council had agreed to increase income in the field as part of the savings scheme. With an increase in inflation along with the savings target, it was highlighted that an income increase of approximately £400k would be required. It was explained that the brief of the task-forcewas to address the increased income but to keep the impact on local residents to a minimum. It should be emphasised that the work undertaken by the Task-force had been very thorough.

It was noted that the task-force had highlighted that the car park banding system was too complex and that it had been simplified from 5 bands to 3.  It was noted that the task-force could have increased the price by 10% across the whole location but the task-force had decided to look at the field differently and the main changes were outlined.  The need to ensure that the short-stay parking fee in the main centres remained the same was noted, but that enforcement hours would be adapted in Bangor to 9am until 5pm. It was stated that the long-stay price would be increased specifically in band 2 car park fees and that there would be an increase in season tickets to correspond with inflation.

Parking options during the Christmas period were highlighted along with the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7