COMMUTER PARKING AROUND FARNBOROUGH STATION
INTRODUCTION
· This paper summarises proposals to help local residents and businesses by increasing parking capacity for commuters travelling to Farnborough railway station by car, encouraging them to park in the station car parks and controlling commuter parking in residential roads nearby.
BACKGROUND
· Off-street parking is insufficient for the number of commuters travelling to Farnborough station by car and the absence of restrictions in nearby roads encourages them to park on-street first because it is free.
· The car park at Cove Green pavilion is also congested by commuter parking because it is not restricted and is free. This creates problems for the pre-school group and others who use the pavilion and Cove Green itself.
· Residential roads in the area become congested with commuter parking as early as 7.00 a.m. but it is not until 8.00 a.m. that the station car parks become substantially used.
· Later in the day, when the nearby streets and car parks are full, we often see parking out-of-bay in the car parks and parking on-street where there are restrictions because drivers are unable to find parking space.
· The roads most affected are Station Road, Prospect Road, Orchard Road and the derestricted parts of Union Street, where as many as 100 vehicles park each day (equivalent to 11% of the off-street parking capacity). Other roads near the station - Elm Grove Road, Clockhouse Road and the eastern section of Union Street, are not normally used as they have residents’ parking zones or other restrictions.
· Last year the County Council, as the highways authority, approved the introduction of charges for street-side parking in Rushmoor to help regulate and influence on-street parking. Traffic regulation orders are needed for the areas where we propose to introduce charges.
PROPOSALS
The areas referred to are shown on the attached plan. Larger scale plans will be available at the meeting.
Union Street Car Parks
· By improving the layout of our Union Street West car park, we can increase capacity by ten spaces. This will include reworking the car park entrance to minimise hazardous out-of-bay parking here by commuters who are late.
· The daily charge at the Railtrack car park (which is further from the station than our own) is £2.30. Our charge is £2.20. We therefore propose to adjust our daily charge to £2.30.
· The daily charge at the smaller Union Street East car park is also £2.20. It is used by local businesses but we propose to adjust the charge to £2.30 to deter rail commuters from parking here. These increases, plus the income from the additional spaces, will yield sufficient income this year to fund the above works.
On-Street Charging
· On-street charging on the roads used by commuters will reduce early morning noise and congestion and encourage use of the car parks as a first choice.
· We propose a daily charge of £2.50, Monday – Friday, for parking in the chargeable sections of Station Road, Prospect Road and Orchard Road. This is a 20p premium on the proposed daily parking charge in our car parks. We will need six new ticket machines, but we have three in stock so installation costs are minimised.
· There will be no chargeable parking on the residential side of these roads. Prospect Road is the only road where houses will overlook chargeable parking on the opposite side of the road (but most of the houses have between two and five off-street parking spaces). However, we propose to introduce a ‘first two hours free’ facility for their weekday visitors and for allotment users (the allotment also has its own off-street parking).
· We propose to remove commuter parking on Union Street by extending residents’ parking area F3 by eight spaces and providing one-hour free parking for visitors to the Cemetery. We will also extend the ‘at any time’ parking restriction on Union Street, at its junction with Prospect Road, to remove hazardous parking on the approach to the traffic lights. We also propose to replace a 3hr waiting limit on Green’s School Lane with additional residents’ parking for six properties to deter half-day commuter parking.
· The proposals as a whole will remove all commuter parking in front of residential properties and in front of the main entrances to the cemetery and the allotments. The comments and preferences of ward councillors have been taken into account in the above proposals.
Cove Green Pavilion Car Park
· We propose to bring this car park into the Off-Street Parking Order and improve it by providing marked bays, gateway signage and reserved parking for regular users. We propose to introduce a 2-hr parking limit, free of charge, in enough parking spaces to ensure the needs of the Cove pavilion users are met. We propose to introduce a daily charge of £2.30, Monday – Saturday in the surplus spaces, again to encourage commuters to park off-street.
CONSULTATION
· Residents and commuters will be consulted on the proposals through the statutory processes for establishing new parking orders. This consultation is expected to run for 28 days from the beginning of September and will create awareness of the proposals and provide the opportunity to comment.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The costs of introducing the proposed changes and the effect on the car parks revenue budget are:
Proposal Implementation -------- Additional Income (£) --------
Cost (£) * in 05/06 in 05/06 from 06/07
(net of *)
Union St West 2,500 2,000 -500 4,800
additional spaces
(by 1/11/05)
Union St East & West nil 1,450 1,450 2,900
10p increase in
daily charge (by 1/10/05)
Installation of ticket 12,000 12,500 500 37,000
machines on-street (based upon 75% occupancy)
(by 1/12/05) 16,700 4,700 50,000
(based upon 75% occupancy)
Pay-and-display 8,000 4,200 -3,800 10,000
parking at the
Pavilion car park
(by 1/11/05)
---------- ----------- ----------- -----------
TOTAL (at min) 22,500 20,150 -2,350 54,700
(at max) 22,500 24,350 1,850 67,700
6. RECOMMENDATIONS
· It is recommended that:
- the capacity of Union Street West car park is increased;
- the daily charge at Union Street East and West car parks is increased by 10p to £2.30 with effect from 1 October;
- a daily parking charge of £2.50 is introduced in the sections of Station Road, Prospect Road and Orchard Road shown on the attached plan. This charge will apply between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Mondays to Fridays (except public holidays). The first two hours of parking will be free of charge in Prospect Road to assist residents’ visitor parking. Subject to the outcome of the statutory processes of making the appropriate parking orders, this will take effect from 1 December;
- the Pavilion car park is incorporated into the Off-Street Parking Order with a daily charge of £2.30. This charge will apply between 8.00 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. Monday to Saturday. The first two hours of parking will be free of charge to assist Pavilion users. Pavilion staff will be exempt from the charges by displaying a permit. Subject to the outcome of the statutory processes of making the appropriate parking order, this will take effect from 1 November;
- the existing F3 permit parking area is extended along the section of Union Street in front of the cemetery, with a 1-hour waiting limit for non-permit-holders to provide for visitors to the cemetery, again subject to the statutory process of extending the parking order;
- an ‘at any time’ parking restriction is introduced on the derestricted section of Union Street adjacent to the allotments to improve the line of sight approaching the traffic lights and to keep the allotment entrance clear;
- residents of the section of Green’s School Lane from Union Street to High View Road are offered a residents’ parking scheme as an alternative to the existing 3-hour waiting limit conditional upon unanimous acceptance by the 6 households affected;
and
- the heads of Street Scene and Legal services advertise the appropriate Orders and if there are no objections to make the Orders and if there are objections for the Cabinet Member for Environment to consider these objections and determine the appropriate course of action;
- approval is provided for a supplementary estimate for £22,500 to cover implementation of these schemes, which is expected to be fully funded from additional income in 05/06.
JIM PETTITT
HEAD OF STREET SCENE SERVICES
Contact: Mike Bamber, Parking Manager
01252 398291
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