A report informing the Sub-committee of the transfer of the management of the Council’s public car parks back in-house.

The Director of Environment and Neighbourhood Services submitted a report informing the Sub-Committee of the transfer of the management of the Council’s public car parks back in house.

The report stated that the management contract in relation to the Council’s car parks had been let in June 2007 for a 15 year contracted term, with the contract expected to naturally terminate in June 2022.  As a result of a contract review, savings in the region of £1.8M over the remaining term of the contract (4 years) had been identified by ending the contract early.  The contract was a management only service with the Council retaining all the responsibility for the assets and capital expenditure.  Whilst the commencement of the contract had included initial capital investment there had been no further investment since and it had been recognised that some of the Council’s car parks were in need of investment to better compete in a healthy competitive market.  With only four years left of the contract there was no desire by either party to make any further investment in the car parks and continuation of the contract would only generate the need for a larger capital investment in four years.  Voluntary termination of the contract offered an opportunity to revisit the current service and generate additional income for the Council, for example, investing in automatic number plate recognition provided increased security, pre-booking and account based (cashless) payment systems.  By improving the attractiveness of the Council’s car parks business would also increase thus increasing car parking revenue.

The report explained that Transfer of Undertakings (TUPE) would be applicable in respect of staff at the point of termination and seven of the contracted management/operational team had joined the Council.  As a consequence the handover on 4 October 2018 had been relatively trouble free with only a few minor issues needing to be resolved.  Within two weeks of handback all customer facing services were fully integrated and operating as the Council would want and the in-house team were now focusing their attention on future growth opportunities.

In the short term by bringing the management of the car parks back in house the Council would not want to change the tariff as had been recommended at the 13 June 2018 meeting (Minute 7 refers).  Under the management contract tariff increases were put forward by the contractor with very little input or control by the Council.  Alternative opportunities were now being sought to offer better customer value within the current tariff band rather than increase car parking prices.  One idea, for example, was to explore an off-peak tariff that would encourage visits to the town centre during quieter periods of the day/week.  This might be particularly attractive at Christmas when roads could be much busier during peak times with extra shopping traffic.  Another tariff opportunity might also include differing payment bands on the environmental impact of the vehicle.

Finally, the report stated that in the longer term, with advancement in solar technology, there was likely to be a number of opportunities in generating solar power for the Council and its customers.  With the increasing use of electric vehicles the Council lacked charging points within the Borough’s car parks and solar power might offer vehicle charging opportunities alongside reduced energy bills for the car parks themselves.  There was also the desire to invest in the Cattle Market car park to offer a higher quality product to meet the demand in commuter travel once the Elizabeth Line opened.

Resolved -    That the report be noted.