A report providing the Sub-Committee with a summary of the digital parking permit trial and recommendations to implement a roll out of digital permits Boroughwide to include all permit types on 1 November 2023, except for visitor parking permits.

Further to Minute 17 of the meeting held on 14 September 2022, the Sub-Committee considered a report informing the Sub-Committee of the findings of the Digital Parking Permits Project that had been carried out between 31 October 2022 and 30 April 2023.  Feedback that had been received to the statutory consultation was attached to the report at Appendix 1.

The report summarised the proposed changes that would mean permits would not be printed and posted, the scheme would no longer require a permit to be displayed in the vehicle and residents would not be asked to allow up to 14 days for these permits to be issued.

The report explained that procurement of a new Parking Services contract had led to a change in supplier, the new service would start on 1 November 2023 with Unity 5 providing back office Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) and Permit software system.  This had provided for improvements to be made, which allowed for some of the issues that had been identified at pilot stage to be resolved.

All permits would need to be migrated to the new system regardless of whether they were digital or not and it should be noted that even if the permits were still printed, they would still be linked to the Civil Enforcement Officers handheld computer terminal, except visitor permit scratch cards.  Visitor permits would not be linked to the handheld terminal and if there were any errors with the completion of the permit the visitor would be liable to receive a PCN, as they did currently.  They would also receive a PCN if the permit was obscured/fell down.  The Council was unlikely to cancel PCNs that had been incorrectly completed or not displayed correctly.  A digital visitor permit scheme would remove the likelihood of a PCN being issued because the vehicle and dates were completed online and there was no issue with the permits falling down.

The report included a table that showed the permits that had been issued between 31 October 2022 and 30 April 2023 and the total on issue as of 5 July 2023.  The report also included an analysis of the consultation feedback and a summary of the benefits of the new scheme.

Finally, the report proposed that digital permits should be rolled out for all permit types, except for visitor permits, to continue to have offline (physical) permits for residents who still needed this requirement (specifically for Resident, Carers and Visitor Permits), to continue the trial in Permit Zone 02R for digital permits and to update the permit scheme rules and definitions with these changes.

Resolved –

(1)        That the proposal that Digital Permits were introduced Boroughwide for all permits except Visitor Permits, which would remain as physical permits, be agreed;

(2)        That offline (physical) permits be retained for vulnerable residents (residents & carer permits);

(3)        That residents in the permit zone 02R which was part of the original trial continue to trial digital visitor permits under the new permit software;

(4)        That a statutory consultation for the implementation of a full rollout of digital permits Boroughwide to include all permit types be carried out in November 2023 and the Assistant Director of Legal and Democratic Services be granted authority to make the Traffic Regulation Order;

(5)        That the Traffic Regulation Order be made permanent;

(6)        That respondents to the statutory consultation be informed of the decisions of the Sub-Committee accordingly following publication of the agreed minutes of the meeting;

(7)        That no public inquiry be held into the proposal.