National news EV chargepoint building requirements to change The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) held a consultation event in September about the proposed requirements for electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints in new residential and new and existing non-residential buildings. Claire Jones, head of infrastructure policy, and her colleagues explained the rationale for the changes. These include changing building regulations so new residential and non-residential buildings include EV chargepoint infrastructure, and existing non-residential buildings have EV chargepoints. Significantly for parking, new builds or renovations will need cable routes for an EV chargepoint for one in every five spaces. For existing buildings, this requirement will be one chargepoint per 20 parking spaces. Changes will be mandatory from March 2020 for newbuilds, and 2025 for existing non-residential buildings. If youre quick, its not too late to get involved in this important consultation. OLEV is accepting submissions until 7 October. The two consultation documents are available at: bit.ly/OLEVEV1 bit.ly/OLEVEV2 You can hear more from OLEVs Claire Jones at the BPA Annual Conference. Enforcement increase Parking debts were passed to enforcement agents on nearly 1.1 million occasions in 2018/19 a 21 per cent likefor-like increase on the same period in 2016/17 according to recent research by the charity Money Advice Trust. Chair of the BPAs Enforcement Agencies interest group, Paul Kelly, said: The main issue not identified in the report is just how many multiple warrants are in respect of a relatively small number of persistent evaders. The BPA has raised this issue with the government. Also, unlike local taxation, councils have only one enforcement remedy pass to enforcement agents in respect of parking and traffic warrants. The report also fails to acknowledge that many councils have taken on more powers in respect of civil parking enforcement and bus lanes. Read the report at bit.ly/2lPPOim Round-up of stories affecting the profession across the UK Applying the brakes on pavement parking The Transport Select Committee (TSC) has published a report calling for a nationwide ban on pavement parking. The report follows a recent TSC inquiry where organisations including Living Streets, Guide Dogs and PATROL (Parking and Traffic Regulations Outside London) gave evidence on the current situation with regard to pavement parking, as well as the process for creating and managing Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs). The report made a number of recommendations and concluded that, in the long term, the government should legislate for a nationwide ban on pavement parking across England, outside London. While the TSC acknowledged that this fundamental change cannot happen overnight, it called on the government to commit to legislating on this issue before the end of this parliament. The TSC recognised that enforcement of this ban should lie with local authorities and not the police, who do not have time to enforce parking offences. It recommended that the government include a provision in legislation banning pavement parking for a new exemption order process based on the London model. The specific nature of those exemptions would be determined following a public consultation and the full involvement of local authorities across England. To help the public understand better where they can and cannot park, the TSC called for a public information campaign that would highlight the effects of pavement parking, and where members of the public can report these offences. The BPA welcomes calls for effective parking management, allowing people and vehicles to move freely without causing obstruction and disruption to others. Dave Smith, head of public affairs and communications, said: We want to see the creation of a clear and consistent UK-wide common standard to enable local authorities to manage and enforce dangerous and obstructive parking, with the presumption being that dangerous pavement parking is not allowed. Opening up data to avoid traffic delays The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced the next stage in its review into Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs). It plans to open up data on planned changes to the road network, highlighting potential traffic jams in advance and helping with routeplanning systems for self-driving vehicles. Working with organisations including local authorities and the connected and automated vehicle (CAV) sector, the DfT will look at introducing legislation to make it easier to access data about the predicted 50,000 yearly road closures. Tech firms could soon get access to relevant data, thanks to a review of legislation around TROs the orders behind restrictions on the road network, which allow for temporary roadworks or permanent changes to the road. Companies will potentially be able to develop and enhance navigational apps powered by artificial intelligence, warning drivers well ahead of planned disruption to routes and offering alternatives to help save time and money. T he announcement follows completion of the first phase of the TRO Discovery Project, led by the BPA and supported by GeoPlace and Ordnance Survey. The BPA has published its TRO Guide, which aims to raise standards in the way TROs are created and support councils in moving towards more efficient and accessible digital systems. Guidance on using a draft Data Model for future development has also been published as a first step towards making available accurate, real-time data about the rules of the road network as set out in TROs. The new guidance has the potential to improve journey times, reduce congestion and pollution and make roads safer, through more efficient use of limited road space and sharing of real-time data to improve the operation of the road network. It could also have implications for other longstanding challenges such as better management of pavement parking which, under current regulatory requirements, can be a long and expensive process. Read more about the TRO Discovery Project and its outputs at britishparking. co.uk/TRO-Discovery-Project 8 britishparking.co.uk PN Oct19 pp08-09 News.indd 8 23/09/2019 13:46