Issue - meetings

That the comments and concerns raised by the Committee be forwarded to Cabinet for consideration.

The Chief Officer (Streetscene and Transportation) introduced a report to seek a recommendation from the Committee on the proposed car parking charges in all Council owned car parks.  He provided background information and advised that the car parking charges had not been reviewed since introduction and that the income generated did not meet the full cost of managing and operating the car parks.  This position was contrary to the Council’s newly adopted corporate policy for fees and charges which expected chargeable non-mandatory functions to be provided on a full cost recovery basis wherever possible. 

The Chief Officer advised that the proposed revised charging arrangements were shown in Appendix 1 to the report.  There were 2 options for the revised charges and the Committee was asked to express a preference for one of the options.  The proposed charges were considered reasonable and would still be low when comparing the cost of parking in Flintshire to other Welsh counties.  The Chief Officer explained that a review and further impact assessment would be undertaken six months after the new charges had been introduced and would be reported back to the Committee in October 2018.

Councillor Chris Dolphin referred to the proposed charges and clarified his view that the charges should not be standardised across all car parks in Flintshire.  He commented on the facilities, shops and services which were provided within each town and said this needed to be taken into account when proposing changes to the current charging arrangements.  Councillor Dolphin requested that the current tariff remained in Holywell.  He also explained that there were two car parks located in close proximity to each other in Holywell and requested that these be amalgamated under the same name with the same parking charges to assist residents who used the local facilities; citing Holywell Leisure Centre as an example.

Councillors Haydn Bateman and Owen Thomas concurred with the view expressed by Councillor Dolphin that car parking charges in Flintshire should be standardised. Councillors Haydn Bateman and Dave Hughes felt that charges should be standardised in line with the current charges in Mold.

Councillor Sean Bibby proposed an amendment to both   options for Buckley, Connah’s Quay, Holywell, Queensferry, and Shotton car parks and proposed that an additional tariff of 20p be made for the first 30 minutes.  This was seconded by Councillor Ian Dunbar. 

Councillor Richard Jones reiterated that not all towns provided the same facilities and commented that free parking increased future footfall in a town centre as people became familiar to shopping in that area.  He also commented on the cost of delivering and maintaining car parks and said that information on the expenditure and income received from each of the car parks in Flintshire should be made available for comparison and to determine future income levels.  He expressed the view that some car parks were not being fully utilised.  Councillor Jones did not support any increase in car parking charges in Buckley as he felt this would not attract new commercial business  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56