To receive questions from councillors in accordance with Council procedure rule 33.
How many vehicles/drivers have been caught feeding the meters for over 3 hours, in both the Kings Road and Greys Road car parks in Henley over the past 3 months?
2. Question from Councillor Ken Arlett to Councillor David Rouane, Cabinet member for housing and environment
Since the reduction of car park spaces in the Kings Road Car Park and the closure of one of the two entrances, what has been the loss on revenue since April?
3. Question from Councillor Ken Arlett to Councillor David Rouane, Cabinet member for housing and environment
Is it correct that takings from all town/parish council car parks are not kept separately?
4. Question from Councillor Ken Arlett to Councillor Sue Cooper, Leader of the council
Can the leader of the council confirm that the following issues will be considered by the constitution review working group?
· to allow local ward councillors to take part in the debate and vote at planning committee meetings
· to reduce public speaking time for each group of speakers to 3 minutes at planning committee meetings.
· to allow planning committee members to only ask one question per application to speakers, and one question to officers.
Minutes:
1. Question from Councillor Ken Arlett to Councillor David Rouane, Cabinet member for housing and environment
How many vehicles/drivers have been caught feeding the meters for over three hours, in both the Kings Road and Greys Road car parks in Henley over the past three months?
Answer:
If car park inspectors spot meter feeding they issue an excess charge notice for the expiry of the first ticket. However, we do not hold records regarding the specific reason for issuing excess charge notices (ECNs) and therefore we are not able to say what proportion relates to meter feeding. Some drivers are very astute and remove any trace of previous tickets from their vehicles. We are aware that this can happen and our car park inspectors are doing their best to monitor the situation. However, drivers are allowed to move from Kings Road to Greys Road without penalty as the current parking order allows this.
The car park contract manager has provided the below data on ECNs:
For overstay/expired ticket we have issued the following between 1 September 2019 to 30 November 2019
Greys Road 92
Kings Road 45
Southfields 2
Supplementary question
In response to a supplementary question regarding the roll out of updated ticket machines (see minute 34(9) of October 2019 Council minutes) the Cabinet member responded that there was no further detail available.
2. Question from Councillor Ken Arlett to Councillor David Rouane, Cabinet member for housing and environment
Since the reduction of car park spaces in the Kings Road Car Park and the closure of one of the two entrances, what has been the loss on revenue since April?
Answer:
There has been no loss of revenue since April 2019 and we are monitoring this situation carefully. There is an arrangement in place which means that Murphy’s pay for the spaces they are using.
Supplementary question
In response to a supplementary question, the Cabinet member undertook to provide details of the precise revenue figures over the past 6 months for 2019 and 2018 in writing.
3. Question from Councillor Ken Arlett to Councillor David Rouane, Cabinet member for housing and environment
Is it correct that takings from all town/parish council car parks are not kept separately?
Answer:
For clarification this response relates to car parks in towns that are managed by the councils and monitored by Saba. We do not monitor the town/parish council car parks. The Council accounts for income from all its car parks together within its budgets so does not separate income for the different car parks. However, we are able to interrogate and analyse the ticket sale data and income recorded by Saba for each individual car park if required.
Supplementary question
In response to a supplementary question, the Cabinet member referred to his previous answer in which he stated that income details for each individual car park could be provided.
4. Question from Councillor Ken Arlett to Councillor Sue Cooper, Leader of the council
Can the leader of the council confirm that the following issues will be considered by the constitution review working group?
· to allow local ward councillors to take part in the debate and vote at planning committee meetings
· to reduce public speaking time for each group of speakers to 3 minutes at planning committee meetings.
· to allow planning committee members to only ask one question per application to speakers, and one question to officers.
Answer:
I have previously confirmed in a written response to a question, submitted at the July Council meeting, that the issue of local ward councillors taking part in the debate and vote on planning applications in their ward at planning committee meetings will be considered as part of the review. I have spoken to officers who have also confirmed that the other issues you have raised for review will also be considered.
Supplementary question
In response to a supplementary question the leader of the council confirmed that each political group would be represented on the constitution review task group and that councillors would have the opportunity to raise issues with the recommendations coming to Council for consideration and agreement.