Decision

RESOLVED:

1. That this Council notes that:

a)            Obstructive, dangerous and inconsiderate parking remains a persistent concern across Bletchley.

b)            Obstructive and inconsiderate parking can have a disproportionate impact on disabled people, parents with pushchairs and other vulnerable pedestrians. It can also reduce visibility and obstruct access for emergency and essential services.

c)             Concerns have been raised by the community in Bletchley.

d)            Milton Keynes City Council already carries out parking enforcement including targeted activity in areas experiencing significant levels of non-compliance, and provides a route for residents to identify locations requiring attention.

e)            Responsibility for different forms of parking enforcement is divided between Milton Keynes City Council and Thames Valley Police. The Council already publishes guidance explaining the respective responsibilities of each authority and how residents can report parking concerns.

f)              Parking enforcement should be proportionate, evidence-led and focused on improving compliance and accessibility, rather than maximising the number of penalty charge notices issued.

g)      The Council is procuring a new parking enforcement contract, providing an opportunity to strengthen intelligence-led deployment, accessibility-focused enforcement, use of technology, performance monitoring and reporting across Milton Keynes.

h)      The redevelopment of Queensway through the Bletchley and Fenny Stratford Town Deal includes features designed to discourage anti-social parking, alongside wider improvements intended to make the area safer, more accessible and more attractive for residents, businesses and visitors.

1. That this Council believes that:

a)            Every resident should be able to use pavements, dropped kerbs and pedestrian routes safely and independently.

b)            Protecting accessibility must be treated as a core public-safety responsibility and not as a secondary consideration.

c)             Effective parking enforcement requires more than occasional visits or isolated penalties. It requires visible patrols, repeat visits, intelligence-led deployment, public education and effective cooperation between the Council, its enforcement contractor and Thames Valley Police.

d)            Residents should be able to see whether repeated reporting and enforcement activity are producing measurable improvements.

e)            Targeted enforcement can be an effective response to persistent parking problems, but the appropriate intervention should be determined by evidence, available enforcement powers, operational capacity and the relative needs of communities across Milton Keynes.

1. That this Council:

a)    Recognises that Milton Keynes City Council already undertakes targeted parking enforcement activity and provides published guidance setting out how parking concerns can be reported and the respective enforcement responsibilities of the Council and Thames Valley Police.

b)    Welcomes the procurement of the Council’s new parking enforcement contract as the appropriate opportunity to strengthen the service further, including through improved intelligence-led deployment, use of technology, data and performance information, accessibility-focused enforcement and more responsive targeting of persistent problem locations.        

1.       That this Council therefore resolves to request that the Cabinet member for Environment, Waste, Highways and Transport ensures that:

a)            evidence from Bletchley is considered alongside evidence from communities across Milton Keynes when developing the new contractual and operational approach to targeted parking enforcement;

b)            officers, as part of the development of the new parking enforcement contract, consider whether any additional targeted intervention in Bletchley Park and Fenny Stratford is necessary and proportionate, including whether a time-limited targeted enforcement trial would add value beyond existing enforcement activity and the improvements being developed through the new contract;

c)             any additional intervention is evidence-led, operationally deliverable, appropriately funded and does not unreasonably divert enforcement resources from other areas of Milton Keynes experiencing comparable or greater parking and accessibility problems;

d)            the effectiveness of the new contract is assessed through measures focused on improved compliance, safety, accessibility and responsiveness rather than the number of Penalty Charge Notices issued or income generated; and

e)            the Council’s existing parking enforcement guidance and reporting arrangements are kept under review so that residents can easily understand how to report parking concerns and which matters fall to the Council or Thames Valley Police.

1. That this Council notes that the Council already publishes guidance on parking enforcement and reporting responsibilities, and resolves to ask the Cabinet member for Environment, Waste, Highways and Transport to support the continued review and improvement of that guidance and the associated reporting arrangements as part of the development of the new parking enforcement contract.