Parkex review In compiling his report, Spearpoint has been working through the clauses in the guidance, trying to figure out the historical context of decisions made by people decades earlier. Tony Jones brief to provide advice to government and industry relies on giving a context for decision-making. He explains: If you look at fire resistance, then we are given guidelines of 15 minutes, but that is not defined in any context. If you had a car park in the middle of a field, 15 minutes of fire resistance is okay because you can clear the car park in that time. But a building in a heavily built-up area? Then you start to compromise safety of people. You cant say that 15 minutes is enough, there is no evidence. He continues: Most fires have an element of uniqueness. Guidance says fires are unlikely to jump levels, but [at Liverpool] we saw fire jumping from one floor to another. Fuel was dripping through drainage channels and fire was coming through the same channels. The task of the BPA group is to produce evidence that will help government to make decisions. There is currently a paucity of solid evidence, and this is a challenge the working party is striving to overcome. Clean Air Zones: carrot or stick? The session on Clean Air Zones (CAZs), chaired by John Mason of the JBW Group, discussed ways that local authorities could persuade or coerce drivers to play their part in cleaning up air quality. Some cities have already introduced road-user charging regulations in order to adhere to the governments demands for reducing air pollution. In London, such measures were relatively easy to implement because there was already a culture of paying road charges via the congestion charge. Selling the idea to the motoring public in other areas needs careful messaging, especially when you are talking about sums of 50-100 for driving a high-emission truck in a CAZ. It is a point that Neil Herron, chief executive officer of GRID Smarter Cities, reiterated. It is easier to work with a carrot than a stick. You have to find a way to take people on a journey with you. Look for ways to intelligently manage the kerbspace or incentivise firms to deliver with electric vehicles, he said. But will getting the correct message to the public be difficult particularly as there are likely to be variations in both restrictions and sanctions across the country? John McArdle, Vice-President of the BPA, didnt see variations in implementing CAZs as presenting a major problem: The Mayor of London is determined to push ahead with even lower emission targets in London. That means the system for London becomes the de facto one for the whole country. Transport for London (TfL) doesnt want to be setting national standards, it wants a local system to suit the local conditions. But that doesnt automatically mean there will be inconsistency. Martin Gubby, operations and contracts manager at TfL, agreed: The key thing is consistency of standards, then it comes down to what the local authorities want to do. Variable charges can be implemented with good publicity. And in terms of embedding a scheme, if, in the introductory stages, a local authority issues warning notices rather than penalty charge notices, that is a better way of introducing a new scheme. Listening to the discussion, it was clear that two things are essential to making CAZs a carrot-driven scheme: consistency in application, and clear information telling drivers what restrictions are in place. Anything less and the stick will become a necessary tool in the drive to clean up air pollution. 34 britishparking.co.uk PNMay19 pp22-35 Parkex.indd 34 26/04/2019 13:08 Fo gr fo pl se pr bu H cu an w