Agenda item

Called-in Item: Strategic Reviews of City Centre Access and Council Car Parking

To consider two of the decisions made by the Executive on 18 November 2021 in relation to the above item, which have been called in by Councillors Kilbane, Looker and Melly in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.

 

A cover report is attached setting out the reasons for the call-in and the remit and powers of the Customer & Corporate Services Scrutiny Management Committee (Calling-In) in relation to the call-in, together with the original report and relevant annexes, and the decisions of the Executive.

Minutes:

Members considered a report which set out the reason for the call-in of two decisions made by the Executive on 18 November 2021 in respect of the Strategic Review of Council Car Parking and associated Action Plan and the future report on whether to re-commence the paused procurement of a contactor to build St George’s Field multi-storey car park, which would be brought to Executive as part of a wide delivery update on the Castle Gateway project in February 2022.

The decisions were highlighted in the Decision Sheet at Annex A to the report. The original report to Executive was attached at Annex B to the report. Resolution (iii) and (iv) on the Decision Sheet had been called in for review by Councillors Melly, Kilbane and Looker, for the following reasons:

·        The review failed to provide accurate data on parking use across council managed car parks over a reasonable period of time post lockdown, making strategic decisions on car park investment in the future premature;

·        A decision on whether or not to develop a new multi-storey car park at St George’s Field was delayed to establish how people are using car parks following Covid lockdowns, yet this data was inadequate in the review report;

·        The Executive’s approach is solely asset-based, coming as it does long before the fourth Local Transport Plan has been drawn up and agreed, meaning strategic decision making on transport is completely absent;

·        The review fails to factor in private car parking in reviewing York’s parking activity and needs, other than to suggest any reduction in council car parks could result in private operators filling a supposed gap, without any supporting evidence.

Under the provisions of the Council’s constitution and the requirements of Local Government Act 2000, the following options were available:

a)    To decide that there were no grounds to make specific recommendations to the Executive in respect of the decisions called in. If this option was chosen, the original decisions taken on the item at the Executive meeting on 18 November 2021 would be confirmed and would take effect from the date of the Customer and Corporate Services Scrutiny Management Committee (Calling-In) meeting; or

b)    To make specific recommendations to the Executive on the decisions called in, in light of the reason given for post-decision call-in. If this option was chosen, the matter would be considered at a meeting of Executive (Calling-In).

The Chair then invited Cllr Kilbane to proceed in representing the calling-in Members. He explained in more detail the reasons for the calling-in, and then responded to questions put by Members.

The Executive Member for Transport and the Executive Member for Finance and Performance then outlined the reasons for the original decisions, and responded to Members’ questions.

The Corporate Director of Place, the Director of Transport, Environment and Planning and the Head of Regeneration and Economy then responded to questions which had been raised during the meeting, particularly in relation to the technicalities of the report and data gathering, including the hierarchy of council car parks, the identified gaps within the data, the Action Plan, the proposed multi-storey car park on St George’s Field and the future strategy to inform decisions on car park investment or alternative uses. 

Members went on to debate the options in full and to consider whether they wished to make any additional observations or recommendations arising from the call-in.

A proposal to refer the decisions back to the Executive, including a recommendation that acknowledged that the data gaps would be filled to the best extent possible in a timely manner in order to make a robust decision on any future car park decisions, was moved and seconded. The motion was lost 5 to 4. A motion to endorse and reaffirm the original Executive decision was therefore moved and seconded. That motion was carried 5 votes to 4.

Resolved:

(i)    That the original decisions made by the Executive at its meeting on 18 November 2021 in relation to the strategic reviews of city centre access and council car parking be re-affirmed.

(ii)    That the future report on whether to re-commence the paused procurement of a contractor to build St George’s Field multi-storey car park be considered through pre-decision scrutiny.

Reason: To enable the called-in matter to be dealt with efficiently and in accordance with the requirements of the Council’s Constitution.

 

 

 

 

Supporting documents:

 

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