Local authority response Life during lockdown Louise Parfitt asks Kevin McKee, parking manager at Portsmouth City Council, what challenges the current lockdown has brought for his team have been so impressed with my team: theyve done amazingly well in difficult circumstances. I am talking to Kevin McKee, parking manager at Portsmouth City Council in early April. His team of civil enforcement officers (CEOs) are out working hard to keep Portsmouths streets clear and traffic moving albeit in very different circumstances to normal. Like many councils, Portsmouths response to lockdown has been to concentrate resources on key restrictions. Enforcement was halted in residents parking zones, and charges for both on-street and off-street parking were lifted. I Portsmouth is a very enclosed city and much of its housing is quite dense. When everybody is at home, there is considerable pressure on parking, explains McKee. We are trying to maximise available spaces by contacting places such as schools and churches to see if they can open up their car parks for use. The council has been encouraging people to park their second cars and business vehicles in nearby car parks (for free) to help keep residential roads clearer for key workers returning from their shifts. The onus is on us to provide as much support as we can for key workers to help our residents get through the crisis, says McKee. Communication is key The beautiful weather in early April led to an increase in demand for parking in certain areas as people ventured out to exercise or relax. Portsmouth beach could have proved such a target, but McKees team worked with the police to introduce measures to discourage this. The seafront car parks are now closed except to residents or keyworkers, and the esplanade is shut to traffic during the day. McKee meets (from a safe social distance) his teams regularly to hear about the issues they are facing and offer support. We have had some negative behaviour, but we have to realise that tensions are heightened people are worried about their health, their jobs, their family The onus is on us to provide as much support as we can for key workers to help our residents get through the crisis so they are going to react badly to anything they dont see as helping them, such as a parking ticket, he says. We try to support our CEOs with as much communication as possible through social media and press releases explaining why they need to be there and highlight that they are only taking action against those who are parked in an obstructive or dangerous manner. It has had some effect: a number of people have thanked the CEOs for all they have been doing to help manage the parking in these difficult times. For the most part, people understand and appreciate the efforts we are making to support our key workers and services, McKee adds. And, by working together, we can come out of this stronger. 16 britishparking.co.uk PN May20 pp16-17 Portsmouth interview.indd 16 23/04/2020 12:48