Parking and politics The really successful towns are making on-street more expensive and off-street cheaper to encourage people off-street. That is beneficial in so many ways environmentally, aesthetically and economically without raising income through tariffs. This leads to a situation where people are dissuaded from using the car parks, so the income goes down when you raise tariffs. Mark Downer is parking operations manager for the Isle of Wight Council, which is halfway through a six-month trial offering one hour of free parking in an attempt to increase visitors to Newport town centre. He reports both positive and negative outcomes. In May, we started a trial in three car parks where motorists can park for an hour for free, he says. The number of transactions has gone in one direction an increase per week of 1,685 across the three car parks. Income, however, has gone in the opposite direction. Anecdotally, I am hearing positive comments from some businesses in the town. We are not witnessing a migration from other car parks, but the free onehour offer is attracting more footfall in the town. While the advantages of increasing footfall are obvious, the cost implications are yet to be assessed. Safety first Offering free parking is a popular move with local businesses, but the highest priority for motorists and residents remains the safety and security of a car park. People want to know that, even on the darkest night, the car park will be well lit and safe. When it comes to providing a safe car park, the Safer Parking Scheme (SPS) and its Park Mark accreditation has a huge role to play. Sara Fisher is the BPAs head of operations and business development, and the SPS is part of her remit. She explains how it is getting a refresh. Now that the world is opening up again, we are taking the opportunity to renew our focus on promoting the benefits of motorists choosing a Park Mark-accredited car park, and showing them that they have a choice when searching for parking, says Fisher. We are collaborating closely with Police Crime Prevention Initiatives (PCPI) to ensure that, through our combined communications channels, motorists can quickly and easily identify Park Mark sites at their destinations. We are also eager to support the government initiative to tackle violence against women and girls, and to demonstrate just how much of a difference Park Mark facilities make to crime statistics in this specific area.* It is all well and good to have a shiny scheme for those who can afford to upgrade their car parks, but what about the cash-strapped local authorities that cant? The BPA is committed to keeping the cost of our schemes as low as possible, says Fisher. The SPS scheme has seen a nominal price increase this year, to cover rising operational costs, but this is the first price change since 2019. However, we cannot underestimate the budgetary cuts that have been imposed on local authorities. Many have looked at their budgets in line with reduced revenues during the pandemic and a number have identified SPS as a saving. For a local authority parking manager trying to loosen the purse strings to fund the SPS, the incentive may be the likelihood of positive media coverage. As Fisher points out: Very often, a Park Mark award certificate presentation is photographed by local media and, most likely, the local councillor will be present, as well as the operator. An important consideration is the implications when the award is removed: will it generate negative press and put people off using the car park? Local authorities may miss out Rasores says businesses have a role to play in part-funding free parking options. However, most councils need to rethink what they are actually funding, he adds. The councillors need to understand the true role between on-street and off-street parking. The really successful towns are making on-street more expensive and off-street cheaper, to encourage people off-street. That is beneficial in so many ways environmentally, aesthetically and economically. We have many very good parking managers but only a few get to have a say in policy-making. We need our parking managers to use their knowledge and skill to explain to the councillors the implications of parking policies. *See bit.ly/PNSept22TVAW Find out more The Safer Parking Scheme is administered by the BPA for the Association of Chief Police Officers, and is aimed at reducing crime and the fear of crime in parking facilities. To view the scheme benefits and to join, visit britishparking.co.uk/ About-the-Safer-Parking-Scheme You can download the BPA reports about research into public perceptions of parking (BPA member log-in required) at britishparking.co.uk/Resources/ Public-perceptions-of-parking and britishparking.co.uk/Resources/BPAPublic-Perceptions-of-parking-part-2 If you are a BPA local authority member you can join a dedicated online community to share information and network online within the community: communities.britishparking.co.uk/ local_authority_members 16 PN Sept 2022 pp14-17 Lead Feature.indd 16 22/08/2022 09:15