The Climate Action, Environment and Highways Policy and Scrutiny Committee met to discuss the impact of the parking fee structure review, and the work and management of the City Inspectors, including the street-based intervention team. The committee recommended that the council consider expanding the current bands listed for pay to parking, give additional thought to how it can make parking easy and affordable for tradespeople, increase outreach with businesses that interact with the city inspectors, arrange neighbourhood coordination meetings outside of traditional working hours, engage with the Football Association to work towards an agreement whereby clubs would contribute to the cost of cleanup for mass fan gathering events, promote the positive contributions of city inspectors, and ensure ward councillors are adequately informed with regards to incidents that might emerge in their ward. The committee also reviewed and approved the committee work programme for forthcoming meetings.

Parking Fee Structure Review

The committee scrutinised the impact of the parking fee structure review since its introduction 18 months ago. Councillor Max Sullivan, Cabinet Member for Streets, said the changes were effective and important for air quality.

The committee made the following recommendations:

• Expanding pay-to-park bands: The committee recommended that the council consider expanding the current bands listed for pay to parking to more fairly split up the concentration currently seen in bands three and bands four.
• Support for tradespeople: The committee recommended that the council give additional thought to how it can make parking easy and affordable for tradespeople, particularly those tradespeople with electric vehicles.

Other issues raised included:

• Environmental improvements: Members requested a breakdown of how the £14.2m from the Parking Places Reserve Account (PPRA) attributed to environmental improvements and street cleaning had been spent in 2023/24, and the total sums collected and intended distribution of the PPRA for the most recent reporting period (2024/25) when it becomes available.
• Data-led approach: Clarity was sought on what data supports the intelligence picture beyond the national census which is only compiled every ten years.
• Consultation threshold: Understanding what future changes to parking fees and charges would result in consultation with residents.
• User research: Members suggested that the council develop its understanding on why those who still choose to drive, do so, which could help lead to more appropriate ways to manage this and offer alternatives.
• Nudging behaviours: Members questioned the degree to which pricing might nudge behaviour given most people aren't aware of what they will be charged, may not know why they have been charged as they have and may park regardless of price fluctuations.
• Initial consultation: How the initial consultation could have been done and advertised to increase the number of respondents and potentially invoked a more positive response. Members asked whether the potential benefits of EBC, such as air quality improvements could have been better presented.
• Key workers: Whether key workers were issued with special parking permits in Westminster.
• Embassy and foreign registered cars: How the council issues and pursues PCNs issued to embassy or foreign registered vehicles. Members also asked if it was possible to issue variable rates of PCNs in correspondence to vehicle value or if there were other ways parking charges could be less regressive.
• Additional enforcement: Whether, with increased revenue from parking, the council was considering putting some of this money towards additional enforcement. Members also asked if CCTV cameras now in place could be used to identify and charge parking offences.
• Councillor feedback: Whether Councillors could put forward potential box junctions for problematic junctions.

City Inspectors and the Street Based Intervention Team

The committee scrutinised the work and management of the City Inspectors, including the street-based intervention team. Councillor Max Sullivan, Cabinet Member for Streets, and Councillor Aicha Less, Cabinet Member for Children and Public Protection, praised the work and training of the city inspectors.

The committee made the following recommendations:

• Business engagement: The committee recommended that the council considers increasing outreach, engagement and potentially feedback with businesses that interact with the city inspectors, particularly over licensing issues
• Neighbourhood coordination meetings: The committee recommended that the council considers sometimes arranging neighbourhood coordination meetings outside of traditional working hours to increase the pool of potential Councillors who can engage with them.
• FA Contribution: The committee recommended that the council engages with the Football Association to work towards an agreement whereby clubs would contribute to the cost of cleanup for mass fan gathering events.
• Promote positive contributions: The committee recommended that the council promotes the positive contributions of city inspectors.
• Councillor communication: The committee recommended that the council ensures ward councillors are adequately informed and communicated to with regards to incidents that might emerge in their ward, consideration to a dashboard of incidents was suggested.

Other issues raised included:

• Clustered priorities: How ward clusters were determined, how priorities are agreed and the level of engagement that takes place at neighbourhood coordination meetings. Clarity was sought over what was meant by Members being asked about local priorities each month.
• Recruitment and retention: How opportunities were made available to residents, what efforts were made to retain talent and how much development and what promotion opportunities were available to city inspectors to encourage them to stay working for the council.
• Tables and chairs licensing: Whether variation in rates charged for licenses could differ across the city depending on the size of the business applying.
• Stakeholder relationship management: How engagement with businesses that often interact with the council, particularly bars and clubs, could be improved to develop their understanding that they are being regulated not targeted. Members asked whether the council would consider collecting measurement of satisfaction with service.
• Problem with shift patterns: Crediting their work, Members questioned the totality of their work distribution across different wards and drew attention to issues experienced around shift patterns and asked how shifts were covered after an experience of city inspectors seeming not to be operating on the ground for days at a time. Members also asked for the protocol for 'out of office' emails being received, particularly during busy holiday periods.
• Tackling commercial waste: Addressing the increased significance and problem of commercial waste left on the street and the private contractors.
• Communication with councillors: Understanding how communication to councillors is issued and whether a contact point could be provided for councillors to contact and report when urgent incidents are brought to their attention. Clarity was sought on the emergency numbers available exclusively to Cabinet Members.
• Tackling ASB: Drawing on incidents around Westminster bridge and Adelphi Terrace, Members identified the growing challenge of tackling ASB and noise and the importance of close liaison with the police.
• Report it: Whilst improved, Members asked whether work was ongoing on efforts to close the loop on some reports logged on 'report it' not pulling across from 'MyWestminster' and ensuring that residents always are provided with a response.
• New tasking model: Clarity on how this would work and whether it would include abstractions or not.
• Pop up release events: Understanding whether temporary event notices were required for pop up releases of new trainers, games etc. and the involvement that city inspectors have when these events occur given the disturbance experienced particularly when they lead to camping on the street.
• PSPOs: How new responsibilities resulting from enhanced PSPOs will be incorporated into the duties of city inspectors and how this might help in tackling new and emerging issues from trends such as flash parties and loitering bikes.
• Management of backfill: To encourage the council to consider how it manages backfill when city inspectors are taken from post or operating temporarily in another area.

Work Programme

The committee discussed its work programme and the items listed for November's Committee, namely Net Zero 2040 and Extreme Weather Impact.