All Kent Councils Parking Surpluses & What Can Be Done With Them.

Shepway District Council(SDC) parking surplus for April 1st 2011 & 31st March 2016 is £1.547,000 according to the Department of Communities & Local Government (DCLG) data.

When compared to all the other 13 councils in Kent, Shepway are next to bottom in the league table for car parking surpluses. Bromley head the table.

All Councils in Kent made £105.3 million and there has been a year on year increase between 2011/12 & 2015/16. You can see that SDC’s surplus jumps in the second year. That is because NSL took over the parking enforcement role.

Parking income is derived from three main sources: meter income, residents’ and business permits, and penalties. Other sources are towing and storage charges although relatively few councils operate pounds now.

Under the local-government-transparency-code-2015 (para 46) councils in England, including SDC MUST publish on their website or place a link on their website to this data if published elsewhwere, detail of their

• 1) a breakdown of income and expenditure on the authority’s parking account . The breakdown of income must include details of revenue collected from onstreet parking, off-street parking and Penalty Charge Notices, and

• 2) a breakdown of how the authority has spent a surplus on its parking account

SDC publish some of this data and it can be found here → Parking Data 

(see KCC unaudited parking accounts 15/16; which unfortunately only gives us half the picture, because it does not give us a breakdown of how SDC has spent its surplus/surpluses.

What enforcement authority annual reports should include are:

Financial data

• Total income and expenditure on the parking account kept under section 55 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 as modified by regulation 25 of the Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) General Regulations 2007.

• Breakdown of income by source (i.e. on-street parking charges and penalty charges)

• Total surplus or deficit on the parking account

• Action taken with respect to a surplus or deficit on the parking account.

• Details of how any financial surplus has been or is to be spent, including the benefits that can be expected as a result of such expenditure.(our emphasis)

On street parking surpluses must by law be used for transport projects.

Transport Projects are laid out in Section 55 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 ; which deal with financial provisions relating to income & expenditure of local authorities in connection with parking places. It sets out what Council can spend their car parking surplus on.

• s(4)(d) if it appears to the local authority that the provision in their area of further off-street parking accommodation is unnecessary or undesirable, the following purpose:

• s4(d)(ii) states: (for) the purposes of a highway or road improvement project in the local authority’s area.

Does your area of Shepway need a “highway or road improvement project”?

s(4)(iv) states: the purposes of environmental improvement in the local authority’s area,

Does your area where you live need an “environmental improvement”? A spring Clean?

s(4A) states: For the purposes of subsection (4)(d)(ii)— “highway or road improvement project”

• a) a highway improvement project means a project connected with the carrying out by the appropriate highway authority (whether the local authority or not) of any operation which constitutes the improvement (within the meaning of the Highways Act 1980) of a highway in the area of a local authority in England or Wales; and

SDC are an appropriate authority and so can carry out what constitutes “the improvement of a highway in the area of “ Shepway where you live.

Got any idea where you could think of a stretch of highway could use a little TLC?

s(4B) states:For the purposes of subsection (4)(d)(iv) “environmental improvement” includes—

• a) the reduction of environmental pollution (as defined in the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999 (c. 24); see section 1(2) and (3) of that Act);

• b) improving or maintaining the appearance or amenity of—

  • (I) a road or land in the vicinity of a road, or

  • (ii) open land or water to which the general public has access; and

• c) the provision of outdoor recreational facilities available to the general public without charge.

So SDC could use the surplus on an outdoor play area, like the one being constructed at Radnor Park, next to the tea room; which SDC Cllr Ann Berry & others have supported employment students gain valuable skills.

Could your area do with some “environmental improvement” from the surplus?

Perhaps the surplus paid for the new surfacing work along Hythe Canal Green Lane & West Hythe?

So we call upon SDC to publish they data they MUST; which is a breakdown of how SDC have spent the surplus on its parking account between April 1st 2011 – 31st March 2016

You do have a town/parish Councillor who you can write to, email or speak to asking for “any operation which constitutes the improvement (within the meaning of the Highways Act 1980 ) of a highway in the area of a town or parish within the district of Shepway where you live.

If you are green minded, you could ask your town/parish Cllr to write to SDC asking for “environmental improvement” in the area of a town or parish within the district of Shepway you live in.

And of course you can ask your ward/District Councillors to ask the Council.

Mums who want a zebra crossing so their kids can walk safely to school as they make the journey over 400 times each year. Of course the Zebra Crossing would be for avoiding danger to persons or other traffic using the road or any other road or for preventing the likelihood of any such danger arising, wouldn’t it?

Improved Play Areas for your children, planting trees to soak up the air pollution to improve the air quality for our children

Does your street, your community need a little spring clean? Well now’s the time to ask because spring is just around the corner, and there’ll possibly be a surplus. So whether it’s that “improvement of a highway” in the area of Shepway where you live, or that “environmental improvement” you’ve always wanted, just ask your parish, town or district councillor to get a bit of that surplus for your area and brighten up our fabulous district. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Shepwayvox

None of the above constitutes legal advice. The information presented is provided “as is” without representation or warranty of any kind.