Decision session Executive Member for Transport	21 June 2022
Report of the Director of Environment, Transport and Planning

Maximising the use of York’s Park and Ride sites with review of on-street parking

Summary

1. The report seeks approval from the Executive Member to scope out the possibilities on introducing charges for on-street parking on Knavesmire road to deter commuter parking and encourage shift to the Park and Ride at Askham Bar. The nature and duration of the trial will be determined when scoping the work;

2. A paper with the results of the scoping exercise will be brought to a future decision session where a proposal for a trial of the suggested measures will be presented for decision.

Recommendations

3. The Executive Member for Transport is recommended to:

To approve the scoping of a trial for charges for on-street parking on Knavesmire road with the results reporting back to a future decision session to initiate a trial;

Reason: To ensure commuter journeys are intercepted at the park and ride stops to reduce carbon, improve air quality and reduce unnecessary car journeys within the outer ring road.

Background

4. York has a strong Park and Ride offer and commuters generally find the locations, cost and the bus services acceptable which has enabled the offer to develop over time. More recently the introduction of electric buses has increased the City’s environmental credentials and increased the attractiveness of the offer. However, these are some areas of the City that fall between the Outer and Inner ring road that still encourages commuter traffic due to free and accessible on-street parking.

5. It had been identified anecdotally that some commuters have been bypassing the Park and Ride sites in private cars and parking in on street locations around the City. The Council in February 2022 signed off a line in the budget to support this work looking charges for on-street parking in the City centre where this currently doesn’t exist to deter commuter parking.

6. The Parking Services have done some initial analysis around this and concluded that Knavesmire road was subject to this kind of usage and could be used in a trial in order to attempt to change behaviours.

Figure 1

7. Figure 1, above, shows the geography of Knavesmire road. It is approximately 2km closer to the City centre off Tadcaster road and as such is a more appealing walk into the City than the Askham Bar Park and Ride site. There is on street parking available at no charge.

8. It is not a popular location for resident parking as it is removed from the housing in South Bank at the North section. The available road width and its relative ease of access to the City centre down Tadcaster road make this a popular stretch for coach parking and also for Light Goods Vehicles (LGVs) and Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs).

Trial

9. In order to test the viability of this road and to test various elements for other parts of the City, it is proposed that a scoping study is done in order to outline the optimal arrangements for on-street parking on Knavesmire road and to identify any risks with taking this approach.

10. It is proposed that consultation is conducted with the race course, the sports club, coach companies, residents and resident associations, cycle and walking groups and other to gather an evidence base to look at the impacts.

11. The introduction of charging in this area could have some consequential effects. The intention is for displacement to happen to the Park and Ride and incentives could be offered to drivers to move there.

12. Displacement elsewhere may have an impact on resident on-street parking in other locations. The displacement may leave Knavesmire road, which is relatively long, wide and straight, clear and increase driver speeds causing risks for pedestrians and cyclists, so the design will have to be carefully considered and there may be opportunities to improve access for cyclists.

13. This will all be built into the evidence base and considered in a follow up report in the late summer that will seek to provide options around charging and mitigations around displacement and safety measures in order to put in place an experimental traffic regulation order (ETRO) and run a trial of on-street charging on Knavesmire road.

Council Plan

14.  Considering this matter contributes to the Council Plan in the following areas:

· Getting around sustainably

Implications

15. Financial

              There was a saving of £20k identified in the budget from additional car parking revenue from introducing charges at such locations. It will be some time before a scheme is introduced which delays any saving however this is a small level of income compared to overall car park income budget which is regularly monitored and reported to Executive.

16. Human Resources (HR)

There are no HR implications around the decisions in this report.

17. Legal

The Council has the power to make an Experimental Traffic Regulation Order (ETRO) under Section 9 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for the purposes of carrying out an experimental scheme of traffic control and which may include provisions:

a) for avoiding danger to persons or other traffic using the road or any other road or for preventing the likelihood of any such danger arising

b) for facilitating the passage on the road or any other road of any class of traffic (including pedestrians)

c) for any of the purposes specified in paragraphs (a) to (c) of subsection (1) of section 87 of the Environment Act 1995 (air quality).

Before the Council can make an ETRO, it must consult with relevant bodies in accordance with the Local Authorities’ Traffic Orders (Procedure) (England and Wales) Regulations 1996.  It must also publish notice of its intention in a local newspaper and make copies of the Order available for inspection for the duration of the effect of the Order.  An ETRO can continue in force for a maximum of 18 months. The Secretary of State may, at the request of the Council, extend the order to continue in force for a further period not exceeding 6 months from the date it would otherwise cease.

The Council is under a duty contained in section 16 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 (“the Act”) to manage their road network with a view to securing the expeditious movement of traffic on the authority's road network, so far as may be reasonably practicable while having regard to their other obligations, policies and objectives. This is called the network management duty and includes any actions the Council may take in performing that duty which contribute for securing the more efficient use of their road network or for the avoidance, elimination or reduction of road congestion (or other disruption to the movement of traffic) on their road network. It may involve the exercise of any power to regulate or co-ordinate the uses made of any road (or part of a road) in its road network. Section 17 of the Act imposes a duty upon to Council to make such arrangements as they consider appropriate for planning and carrying out the action to be taken in performing the network management duty.

Section 18 of the Act requires that the Council shall have regard to guidance of the appropriate national authority about the techniques of network management or any other matter relating to the performance of the duties imposed by sections 16 and 17 of the Act. The proposals described in this report are considered to ensure that the Council fulfils those duties in accordance with the aforementioned statutory guidance, which includes ‘Traffic Management Act 2004: network management to support recovery from COVID-19’.

18. Equalities

19. The Council needs to take into account the Public Sector Equality Duty under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other prohibited conduct; advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it in the exercise of a public authority’s functions). 

20. A full EIA has not been undertaken at this point. If the recommendation in the report is approved and a full Equality Impact Assessment will be developed in due course.

21. Crime and Disorder

There are no implications around the decisions in this report.

22. Information Technology (IT)

There are no implications around the decisions in this report.

23. Property

There are no implications around the decisions in this report.

24. Other

There are no other implications identified.

Risk Management

- Can’t find a viable solution to introduce onstreet parking;

Contact Details

Author:	Chief Officer Responsible for the report:
Dave Atkinson Head of Highways and Transport, Highways and Transport Specialist Officers Finance Patrick Looker Finance Manager Legal Heidi Lehane Senior Solicitor	James Gilchrist Director of Transport, Planning and Environment
	Report Approved	X	Date	13/6/2022
Wards Affected:  Micklegate					All
For further information please contact the author of the report

Background Papers: N/A

Abbreviations:

ETRO – Experimental Traffic Regulation Order