Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

a)  To agree the Minutes of the meeting held on 13 February, 2019

b)  Any matters arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 February, 2019 were agreed and signed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

Briefing Note of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

The Scrutiny Board considered a briefing note of the Parking Services Team Manager which provided information on the current activities and arrangements in respect of the Council’s Parking Enforcement operation. The briefing note also provided an overview of performance and the key priorities.

The Council has been responsible for parking enforcement in Coventry since April 2005 when the function was decriminalised and transferred from the West Midlands Police.

Since March 2008, Civil Parking Enforcement has operated under Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004. Amongst other things, the legislation requires the council to review its parking policies on a regular basis to ensure that they are effective, appropriate, consistent, fair and transparent. The legislation also states that any financial surpluses that are generated from Civil Parking Enforcement are ‘ring fenced’ and could only be used to fund the service and other highway improvements and traffic safety schemes. Parking enforcement should not therefore, be used as a means for raising revenue for the Council.

The Council’s Parking Service comprises 4 main functions:

·  Civil parking enforcement operation

·  Bus lane enforcement operation

·  The appeals service

·  Car park management

In July 2015, the entire Parking Appeals team (and associated work) transferred to the Council’s Customer Services.

Parking activities are integral to the Council’s transport strategies but getting the balance right between the demands for parking and the needs of Coventry’s growing population remains a challenge.

In recent years, the service had been streamlined to remove duplication of effort and to deliver significant cost and efficiency savings. As a result, management of the Council’s car parks and civil parking enforcement duties were now both undertaken by the in-house Parking Team.

Civil Parking Enforcement is not always popular with some people but the service is absolutely vital to improve road safety, traffic flow and access for essential public and emergency services. The briefing note provided further information on staff resources, operational arrangements, civil enforcement officers and performance levels, residents’ parking scheme and penalty charge recovery process.

The Scrutiny Board noted that the relevant legislation allows the Council to enforce some parking restrictions using CCTV cameras where enforcement using traditional methods is difficult. Over recent years, Parking Services had the use of an enforcement car fitted with an Automated Number Place Recognition (ANPR) camera. This enabled Parking Service to effectively enforce parking restrictions outside some schools. The supplier has now withdrawn the use of the ANPR car and rather than compromise the safety of school children, Parking Services has recently bought its own ANPR enforcement car which was currently being commissioned. It was expected to be ready for deployment early in the new financial year. 

There are 115 schools with over 200 access points that need to be kept clear and regularly enforced. The ANPR enforcement car would provide an effective means of enforcing the school keep clear restrictions and identifying parking ‘hotspots’.

Outside of the school drop off/pick up times, the ANPR enforcement car would be used to enforce the red-route along the A4600, bus  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

Briefing Note of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

The Scrutiny Board considered a briefing note which outlined proposals to develop a Safer Speeds City Policy and Road Safety Toolkit. In addition, the briefing note provided information on the types of road safety measures available with details of the advantages and disadvantages of each measure. Information on the intervention criteria to identify locations for scheme consideration and implementation was also included in the briefing note.

Coventry City Council receives many concerns from local residents and elected members about road safety from across the city. This included a significant number of petitions requesting road safety measures.

The City Council is committed to improving safety for all road users and to reduce the number of casualties on our roads. As the West Midlands Road Safety Lead authority, Coventry developed the West Midlands Regional Road Safety Strategy. As part of the commitment to delivering road safety, Coventry was determined to reduce the numbers of people killed or seriously injured (KSI’s) by over 40% over the next ten year period (based on the 2015-17 average). Coventry has developed its road safety priorities in line with the West Midlands Road Safety Policy. It was envisaged that the policy would enhance collaborative working with our road safety partners, including West Midlands Police (WMP) and West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS).

The effects of road traffic collisions has a devastating impact on people effected and their families. Additionally, aside from the human element, traffic collisions have a major detrimental impact on traffic flow by increasing congestion, reducing capacity, worsening journey time reliability and affecting network resilience together with an adverse impact on the economy. 

Road safety is vitally important to promoting Coventry’s local transport system that promotes economic growth, is safe for all road users and improves the quality of life in our communities.

The Council is committed to the promotion of road safety schemes where the benefits can be shown to outweigh any disadvantages. In particular the Council would give priority to those schemes where the accident reduction potential is the greatest. Interventions would be data and intelligent-led and locations for road safety action would be prioritised where criteria has been satisfied and where feasible solutions can mitigate accidents trends.

The briefing note stated that physical measures, road safety measures and the road safety technology would be taken into account to determine evidence based road safety interventions. The policy would also include different types of pedestrian crossing facilities available and their suitability for different types of road environments.

The policy would be underpinned by a bespoke Coventry City Council toolkit that would identify the different types of traffic calming used and the implementation criteria for each measure.

The criteria for selecting a site for road safety intervention was currently based on 6 or more personal injury collisions over a 3 year period. However, it was no longer possible to intervene at all locations that satisfy this criteria. To ensure effective resource allocation, the policy would evaluate amendments to road safety intervention criteria to ensure the most  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

The Scrutiny Board noted their Work Programme for 2018/19.

There were no other items of urgent public business.