Parking Charges Should Be Increased To Cover Costs, Officers Tell County Council

Published on: 28 Sep, 2019
Updated on: 2 Oct, 2019

By Rebecca Curley

local democracy reporter

Some resident parking permit costs are to rise by 60%, county councillors have been told, but the impact in Guildford is still uncertain.

The charge for the first permit for households in Surrey should increase from £50 to £80, showed a parking strategy report by SCC officers to the communities, environment and transport meeting on Thursday (September 26).

Second permits will increase from £75 to £100 and a third to £130, to deter multiple applications per household.

In Guildford at present, a first permit is £50 and a second £80. The possibility of further permits is not mentioned on the borough council website.

A GBC spokesperson said: “This issue is being considered directly by Surrey County Council’s parking team. The impact on the charges in Guildford are as yet unknown. We will be providing them with a response to their suggested fees.”

The SCC officers hope the higher charges will “discourage excessive on-street parking”, but some councillors said more work was needed on enforcing penalties for anti-social parking, such as on pavements.

The number of visitor permits allocated will rise from 120 to 150, and parking from £2 a day to £1 for two hours and £3 for all day.

The charges have not changed since being imposed in 2011 and the new fees will include costs of enforcement, installation and administration, generating an extra £285,000. Officers said this would not be profit but would cover costs.

If the changes are accepted by cabinet members, the papers will go out for public consultation.

Cllr Paul Deach

Cllr Paul Deach (Con, Frimley Green & Mytchett) said there was a disconnect between parking policies with the cost of repairing pavements damaged by anti-social parking and the lack of powers for civil enforcement to penalise errant drivers.

“Parking issues, without any shadow of doubt, is the number one issue I get,” he said.

“I’m not in favour of treating residents as cash cows, but it’s my belief the fear of enforcement has disappeared from our communities.”

Cllr Ken Gulati (Con, Banstead, Woodmansterne & Chipstead) agreed there was no fear of parking enforcement and said permits had a negative impact on other residential roads.

“I completely understand the logic for imposing on-street parking charges,” he said. “But it displaces parking on to the adjacent residential roads.

“On-street parking charges will drive a lot more vehicles on to those residential roads and we need to think about how we are going to deal with that.”

Cllr Fiona White

Cllr Fiona White (Lib Dem, Guildford West) said: “I’m totally opposed to the increase because for a lot of families the £30 increase is going to be difficult.”

Most fees and charges for resident and visitor permits are collected by the district and borough councils. Those are split 60% to the local or joint committees, 20% to the borough or district and 20% to SCC.

There are no changes planned for carer and medical permits or for business permits.

Here is the full list of proposals:

Charge for the first resident permit per household rises from £50 to £89, second from £75 to £100, third and subsequent £130;
Increase number of all-day visitor permits from 120 to 150 per annum;
Increase visitor permit charges in larger town centres from £2 to £3;
Introduce a three-hour £1 visitor permit in all schemes, with a maximum allocation per household of 300 per annum;
Allow district and borough enforcement teams to issue more/fewer visitor permits as particular circumstances occur; and
Introduce a childcare permit at the same rates as a resident permit, dependent on how many are issued to the property.

Change following charges for suspensions and waivers:

Increase the initial charge for a suspension (valid for up to three days) from £65 to £75;
Increase the charge for additional days that the suspension is in force from £10 to £12;
Increase the initial charge for a waiver (valid for up to three days) from £15 to £25;
Increase the charge for additional days the suspension is in force from £5 to £6;
Develop and trial a persistent evader policy to enable immobilisation or removal of relevant vehicles, those whose owners evade payment of parking fines;
Improve online application process for disabled bays;
Introduce a charge of £50 to assess an application for a new access protection-marking (H-bar) or the extension of an existing one and a charge of £120 to provide a new one (if application is successful), or to refresh or extend an existing one;
Consider use of red routes in appropriate locations to improve flow of traffic; and
Trial the use of CCTV cameras where permitted on the highway (ie outside schools and on bus-stop clearways/bus lanes) to improve enforcement.