Agenda item

Councillor Towning spoke under Council procedure 20.1.  He noted that in the Palm Bay area vehicles such as campervans had been parked for a long period of time.  He felt there should be one hour of free parking to allow school children to be dropped off and collected, and there should be a restriction on overnight parking from 6pm to 6am.

Proposed Restrictions on Parking and Waiting.

Ms Glaiser, Uniformed Services Enforcement Manager, TDC, introduced the report detailing the new proposals for restrictions in Thanet.

During consideration of the item it was noted that:

• Parish/Town Councils should also be consulted.
• Officers had visited 100’s of requested sites to establish where restrictions were appropriate.  Following this examination, the proposals were brought to the Board.
• The proposal’s would now have three weeks of public consultation, if objections were received they would then come back to the Board for further consideration.

Councillor Fellows proposed, Councillor Potts seconded and the Board agreed to recommend:

‘That subject to the views of this Board the recommendations shown in appendix 1 are approved and that the proposals which require statutory consultation are advertised, and that any traffic related objections are reported back to a future meeting of the Board.’

Proposal for Prohibition on Waiting by Motor Caravans Review

Ms Glaiser detailed the proposals for Campervan restrictions and provided members with an overview of the responses to the consultation. She noted that there had been a large number of respondents to the consultation, both in support of the proposals and in objection to them. 

During consideration of the item, the following comments from Members were noted:

• Enforcement would need to happen overnight, the Council should not put rules in place that were not enforced.  Ms Glaiser advised that officers normally worked from 6am to 10pm.
• Alternative parking locations were needed if restrictions were imposed.
• The restrictions could start from 8pm rather than 6pm to enable owners to miss rush hour traffic when leaving the area.
• The response to the consultation showed that there needed to be a balanced response.
• Existing legislation should be enough to manage the issue.
• Adapted commercial vans that stayed in one place for a long time were a problem. 
• There could be a three day limit and then no return for a week, perhaps using a parking permit system.  However, Ms Glaiser advised that this would be difficult for the Council to facilitate.
• The Council could charge £20 to park in Barns Car Park or Minis Bay car park for a night.
• Visitors should be welcomed, although in Palm Bay some people appeared to be living in their Campervans all year round.
• Facilities should be provided to allow people to use their motorhome.

Following the debate, Councillor Fellows proposed, Councillor Wright seconded and the Board agreed:

‘To endorse the proposals detailed in annex 2 of the report, however it recommended that officers look into options to allow Campervans to use car parks.  It was noted that this use would require a period of consultation and further advice from the Board would be sought if required following the consultation period.’

Disabled Bays Scheme Update

Ms Glaiser provided the Board with an update regarding the current disabled bay’s scheme.  It was noted that:

• There were 164 disabled person’s bays in the District, and up to 5% of the bays in a road could be designated as disabled bays. 
• This was a scheme managed by Thanet District Council on behalf of Kent County Council.
• The disabled bays were requested by residents, however once installed they could be used by any blue badge holder; the application process made it very clear that anyone with a blue badge could use the bay.
• There had been a specific issue recently regarding bays in a particular road, the Council had conducted a letter drop to the residents in the road, this seemed to have eased the problem.

Park Map Scheme Update

Ms Glaiser provided the Board with an update regarding the park map scheme.  It was noted that:

• From 1 October the virtual map system would go live for Thanet.  It would allow people to see the restrictions in place on a given road within Kent.  The system had already gone live in some other parts of the County.
• There would be a link to the system on the Council’s website.
• Consultation on traffic orders would also become virtual on this system, this would streamline the process significantly.
• The new restrictions agreed by the Board would be advertised on the new system.

Botany Bay Plan Update

Ms Glaiser provided an update on the Botany Bay Plan, she noted that there had been parking issues in the area during the peak summer period for a number of years.

During consideration of the item it was noted that:

• Restrictions could apply to just one side of the road.  The side with restrictions could then be alternated on a daily or weekly basis.
• A residents permit parking scheme had been looked at, however there was insufficient support amongst the residents to proceed.
• The problem came from a lack of parking in the area.
• If restrictions were implemented, cars would move to another area which would just move the problem.
• A park and ride scheme could be considered, although this may put some visitors off visiting, and could mean a loss of farmland if somewhere was needed to create the pick up point.
• The owner of fields near Botany Bay may be interested in providing a summer parking facility.
• The Council was currently unable to penalise drivers for poor parking as there were no lines present. 
• Parking over other’s peoples’ drives was a matter for the Police to enforce.

It was proposed by Councillor Fellows, seconded by Councillor Crow-Brown and the Board agreed to recommend that:

‘Officers should continue to look at alternative options for the area, if a solution could be found it would be reported to a future meeting of the Board.’