Civil Parking Enforcement
On Wednesday 17th June, the Council’s Cabinet will hopefully have approved the introduction of CPE (Civil Parking Enforcement) in Crawley from January 2010. The new policy involves West Sussex County Council delegating to Crawley Council its responsibility for the enforcement of on-street parking in the Borough. This change will allow existing parking restrictions to be imposed more effectively.
Four of the seven West Sussex district councils have already successfully introduced CPE and this involves them managing CEOs (Civil Enforcement Officers) to operate the scheme. Under current arrangements, income from Excess Charge Notices issued by traffic wardens is not retained locally.
With CPE, income from Penalty Charge Notices will be used to assist in funding the whole enforcement operation and if there was a surplus at any time, this would go towards new transport initiatives agreed by the County and Borough Councils. It is also anticipated that the scheme set-up costs will be recovered within three years. We will not be setting any targets for the issue of Penalty Charge Notices to achieve this. Income will only be driven by the actual number of contraventions whatever that might be.
The scheme applies to pay-and-display car parks operated by Crawley Council and any other car park owned by either council that is the subject of a traffic order. This scope includes a number of the neighbourhood parades.
We all know that inconsiderate parking can affect the appearance of our neighbourhoods and raise road safety issues. It is our goal to address these issues and to improve parking for residents and businesses through there being fewer vehicles parked in inappropriate places. We will keep the scheme under the review particularly in terms of where our efforts are focused to gain the most community benefit.
Another initiative is the gradual introduction of further CPZs (controlled parking zones). These are complementary to but not dependent on CPE. With CPZs, residents are able to pay a modest annual fee for a parking space on public roads in their neighbourhoods. That same space is denied to non-residents on certain days and times. The effect is to reduce the impact of inconsiderate commuter parking in the neighbourhoods. We already have some of these schemes in Southgate and West Green and they are really effective.
Congestion in our neighbourhoods is often raised as an issue on the doorstep. I believe that over time, the combination of CPE and CPZ will improve the environment and traffic safety across the Borough.
Councillor Bob Lanzer, Leader of Crawley Borough Council
17th June 2009