Dear *****,
I am somewhat disconcerted by the content of your contact as you consider that I have altered my position. I should like to reassure you that this is not the case and I am concerned that you may be under some misconception. I have consistently stated that the district council recognises the issues that can be associated with residents parking across the district and issues in Stamford in particular. I have sought to represent the views of the district including the issues for Stamford residents by personally attending various meetings of the countywide civil parking enforcement strategy working group as early as 2009 to liaise with senior Lincolnshire County Council officers, to understand the proposed scheme, its implications for residents and to highlight first hand any issues pertinent to our towns.
I wish to impress upon you that I have not at any time completed an “about turn,” quite the contrary, I have continued to work to try to progress what is possible from a district council perspective and to look to achieve the best outcome for both business and residents. We are in fact doing exactly what I said we would do – we are looking to work with residents to introduce a viable, simple scheme which reflects local requirements whilst at the same time maintaining the commitment that any schemes introduced across the district would be at no cost to the council tax payer of SKDC.
I would very much like to assure you that we are listening to the views of all our residents and business (these views do not always fully accord) and we continue to listen – to this end I had previously tasked officers to explore a number of options that may be within the remit of the district council to try to look to provide an interim local solution which seeks to meet the needs of both residents and businesses.
Back in September 2009 as a member of the County wide Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) Working Group I managed to get a paper, albeit short when submitted, put on the agenda regarding the introduction of residents' parking schemes alongside the introduction of CPE. It just seems to be commonsense to do both at the same time, however the report was not supported as the Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) officer informed the group that that council had no capacity to carry out the necessary work at the same time and would only look at implementation of such schemes following the introduction of CPE.
Having given Lincolnshire County Council’s (LCC) draft Parking Policy some considerable thought, when it issued it for consultation, during the latter part of 2011 I instigated a private conversation with South Kesteven District Council’s (SKDC) Cabinet, on Monday 19th September, as it appeared to me that the county council had no intention of respecting residents’ wishes regarding Residents’ Parking Schemes, when it could just get on with it. During Sept/Oct I gauged the view of other councillor colleagues and back in October began informing correspondents that although LCC will not listen to your request SKDC will.
We are looking to work with residents to introduce a viable, simple scheme which reflects local requirements whilst at the same time maintaining the commitment that any schemes introduced across the district would be cost neutral for the tax payer of SKDC.
I would very much like to assure you that we are listening to the views of all our residents and business (these views do not always fully accord) and we continue to listen – to this end I had previously tasked officers to explore a number of options that may be within the remit of the district council to try to look to provide an interim local solution which seeks to meet the needs of both residents and businesses.
By way of context I wonder if it would be helpful to provide some relevant background information. Should Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) be considered the approval of any resident parking schemes will be the responsibility of Lincolnshire County Council, the district council would provide the local administration for the scheme. SKDC has no ability or remit to actually implement an on-street scheme itself. We can only request the county council to implement any scheme as it is the only authority that can do what is necessary to bring about such schemes. Once CPE is introduced the district council can put forward a residents’ parking scheme for consideration by the County Council. However, prior to any submission the district council is required to carry out any necessary research and is also required to conduct all relevant consultation on any proposal. (Any scheme proposed should gain majority support from residents within the scheme perimeter).
It is our understanding that once this preparatory work has been completed the County council will consider the scheme and determine whether to approve the scheme. The district council has no influence in the County Council’s determination. If a scheme is approved the County Council have advised that implementation would normally take around 12 months from when the application is made, subject to the level of objections received during the making of the order.
In conclusion I would like to reiterate that my aim is to work together with all concerned to look to develop a positive outcome. I would hope, that we could combine our efforts alongside our County Council colleagues to arrive at a satisfactory solution.
I do hope you find this response helpful and clarifies SKDC's position. To assist and provide a little further detail I will arrange for a set of frequently asked questions and responses in relation to the CPE process to be sent to you which you may find helpful. If however you require any further clarification please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely
Linda Neal
I've already drafted my response to this. The main problem with Mrs Neal's response is that there is still no plan of work with deadlines in place at SKDC - still just talk...
ReplyDeleteThere must still be a suspicion that she thinks she can get away with doing too little, too late.
This is my reply......
ReplyDeleteDear Mrs Neal,
Thank you for re-iterating your political commitment on this issue, and for doing this so promptly.
In the context of LCC’s Parking Policy being signed off at the end of last year, and your previously stated commitment, I believe that there was an expectation that by March this year you would not be addressing meetings of Stamford Residents with phrases such as “there is nothing SKDC can do to initiate a scheme”. Quite the contrary. The expectation was that you would be saying something like “My officers have been working on a draft consultation document which should be approved by Cabinet next week and be published early next month, with a view to having a policy in place by……”.
I note that below you state “We are looking to work with residents…” – you should already be working with residents by now – we’ve asked you enough times! We are now three months on from the adoption of LCC’s parking policy and potentially only six months away from the introduction of CPE and yet you cannot point to a specific plan of work being carried out by you and your officers to specific planned deadlines. This is simply not good enough, and I hope that you will now immediately take the necessary steps to remedy this.
We have received some reassurance from LCC that once an application has been made to them for a scheme it will be expedited quickly at their end. We are in contact with them about it and are building a constructive relationship with them. Therefore, so far as we are concerned, the major issues now are that SKDC needs to hurry up and prepare an application for a scheme and that so far it has done precious little work towards it.
I hope that you will be able to respond to this positively by publishing a specific plan of action, which your Cabinet has committed to, at the earliest opportunity.
Finally, I should reiterate our belief that there must be a residents’ exemption permit scheme in place at the point when on-street LCC enforcement commences.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Cleaver