ASSISTANT DIRECTOR DECISION

 

DecisionRequest to waive Park & Pedal cycle locker rental feeds for 2020/21

                  Financial year.

Type of Decision: Officer                        Key 

 

Non-Key    

X

Portfolio Area that decision relates to:

 

Leader

 

 

Economy & Strategic Pla

 

 

Deputy L

 

 

Finance & Performance

 

 

Environment & Climate C

 

 

Culture, Leisure & Comms.

 

 

Transport

X

 

Housing and Safer Neigh.

 

Background

The council’s transport department operates a Park & Pedal scheme from each of our Park & Ride sites.  Members of the public are able to rent a cycle locker at the site which then enables them to park for free and then cycle to their place of employment from the P&R site.  This scheme was set up to help achieve some of the aims and objectives of the Local Transport Plan to reduce congestion and encourage active travel.  It also helps improve air quality as the car-related part of their journey will stop near the Outer Ring Road

Currently there are a total of 136 lockers across the 6 sites:

Rawcliffe Bar – 40 lockers (recently expanded as part of EATF Tranche 1)

Monks Cross – 30 lockers

Grimston Bar – 12 lockers

Designer Outlet – 15 lockers

Askham Bar – 24 lockers

Poppleton Bar – 15 lockers

Approximately 50% of the lockers are being rented

2020/21 has not been a typical year due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.  Many of the locker holders have not been able to use their locker this year due to the lockdown as they have either been furloughed or are required to work from home by their employer.  Those who have continued to use their locker (if that particular P&R site is open) tend to be key workers.  At the start of the first lockdown some key workers were offered free or discounted car parking but no concessions were made to cycle locker holders

Rental payments are taken via direct debit, which is either paid monthly or as an annual lump sum (the lump sum payment is discounted).  During the first six months of the pandemic no direct debit payments have been taken because the system was paused for all departmental payments including those for waste collections.  The Direct Debit system was restarted in October and as a result letters were automatically generated and sent out to cycle locker customers demanding payment for their cycle lockers.  This has caused some consternation amongst many of the locker holders who rightly point out that they haven’t been able to use their locker and don’t know when they will be able to use it again going into the future.

 

This report seeks permission to waive this year’s rental payments to acknowledge the extraordinary circumstances of this financial year and to keep the good will of the locker holders, some of whom may otherwise revert back to driving into the city centre or to their place of employment if they perceive that they have been unfairly treated by the council.  Please note that it has taken many years of i-Travel Workplace Travel Planner staff engaging with employers to get them to promote this scheme to their employees an there is a danger that this work could be rapidly undone

 

 

 

 

 

In reality it has been used to repair damage to the lockers in years when we have had theft or vandalism but in some years the rental income has been absorbed into the council’s coffers.

The income from the lockers isn’t budgeted for as part of the council’s financial planning as there is no certainty from one year to the next as to how many customers will rent lockers and there is no agreement that the income will go into the council’s coffers anyway. 

Waiving the rental charges this year will reduce the funding available for locker maintenance or expansion by a maximum of £5376, this assumes all those who had a locker at the start of the financial year continue with it to the end of March 2021. In reality, the income will probably be quite a bit lower as many customers will elect to give up their locker and will probably dispute the rental charges for the periods when they haven’t been able to use the locker due to their individual circumstances.  Chasing up payments for the lockdown period has the potential to do reputational damage to the council.

Several locker holders have already handed back their locker keys and are thus due a refund of part of their rental payment and their deposit they paid when they first started renting their locker for the key.

Implications:  Crime & Disorder

 

Equalities

 

Other: Transport X

Human Resources

 

Legal

 

Highways

 

Financial

X

ITT

 

Property

 

Decision Date: 25 March 2021

Wards Affected:

All Wards

X

Fishergate

 

 

Holgate

 

 

Rural West York

 

 

Acomb

 

Fulford &

Heslington

 

 

Hull Road

 

Strensall

 

 

Bishopthorpe

 

 

 

Guildhall

 

 

 

Huntington &

New Earswick

 

 

Westfield

 

 

Clifton

 

 

 

Haxby & Wigginton

 

Micklegate

 

 

 

 

Wheldrake

 

 

Copmanthorpe

 

 

 

Heworth

 

 

Osbaldwick &

Derwent

 

 

 

 

Dringhouses & Woodthorpe

 

 

Heworth Without

 

Rawcliffe & Clifton

 

 

 

 

Comments/Observations:

 

Decision:  Head of Transport in consultation with the Assistant Director Transport, Highways and Environment agreed to waive the rental charges for this financial year (2020-21) and refund rental payments as outlined above.

 

Decision Made by: Tony Clarke, Head of Transport in consultation with the Assistant Director Transport, Highways and Environment.

Contact Details:      Directorate of Economy and Place, West Offices

Tel No: 01904 551641, email: tony.clarke@york.gov.uk

 




On behalf of:  Neil Ferris, Corporate Director of Economy and Place

To be implemented by

Andy Vose, Transport Policy Manager



On Completion – Signed off by:

 

Tony Clarke

Head of Transport

   Date:  25 March 2021