The following press release was issued by Central Bedfordshire Council on the 12th July 2011 :
"Public to be consulted on parking management proposals."
A proposal to consult the wider community on measures to improve parking in towns and villages across Central Bedfordshire has been approved today (July 12) by Executive councillors.
The draft approach sets out guiding principles that will inform how the Council develops and operates its parking service and facilities in the future - in keeping with the objectives of the Local Transport Plan and in the interests of residents, workers, businesses and visitors alike.
"Our approach to parking must support the economic aspects of our town centres and villages as well as supporting growth and regeneration in the area," says Cllr Brian Spurr, Executive Member for Sustainable Communities Services.
"By managing our parking better we want to make our town centres more vibrant, safer places where people want to spend time. This means ensuring good short term provision for shoppers, good access for disabled people and a reduction in illegally parked vehicles."
"The rural nature of Central Bedfordshire means that motor vehicles play an important role in transport journeys for many residents and businesses. As well as addressing parking management we need to look at improving journey times by tackling congestion. We want to look at how we can encourage more people onto public transport and review long stay parking, particularly for commuters."
The new proposals suggest prioritising short stay parking on sites within an acceptable walking distance of shops, including an appropriate level of disabled parking bays. At the same time the Council is looking to encourage more long stay parking for commuters on the outskirts of town centres and close to train stations.
The proposals will also seek to meet competing demands for on street parking and particularly residents’ needs to be able to park near their homes. This could see the creation of more Residents' Parking Zones and will also include parking standards to ensure appropriate provision for new developments.
To develop a complete picture of parking needs the council will carry out parking studies in towns and villages across the area. These will assess the demand, availability and quality of parking provision - both on street and in car parks - and will supplement those previously undertaken in Dunstable, Leighton Buzzard, Flitwick and Ampthill.
Local councillors, including parish councils, and key stakeholder groups such as the Chamber of Commerce are to be consulted on the proposals over a three month period. Exhibitions will be held at key locations across Central Bedfordshire as part of the consultation. Details of this will be announced soon.
ENDS
On the 26th August 2011 I wrote:
Basil Jackson,
Assistant Director for Highways and Transportation
Central Bedfordshire Council
On the 12th July 2011, a press release was issued on the above subject and the concluding paragraph said:
“Local councillors, including parish councils, and key stakeholder groups such as the Chamber of Commerce are to be consulted on the proposals over a three month period. Exhibitions will be held at key locations across Central Bedfordshire as part of the consultation. Details of this will be announced soon.”
As it is now over six weeks since this press release are the details of the consultation to be announced soon??
Again on 21st September 2011:
Basil Jackson,
Assistant Director for Highways and Transportation
Central Bedfordshire Council
I would appreciate a response from someone to my email.
Response 22nd September 2011.
David/Paul, could one of you provide an outline of the consultation process for Mr Mason?
Many thanks.
Basil.
29th September 2011
Basil Jackson,
Assistant Director for Highways and Transportation
Central Bedfordshire Council
I’m sorry to bother you again but I have not heard anything from “David or Paul”.
As it is well over a month since I first asked, I would appreciate the information now please.
4th October 2011
I most sincerely apologise for the delay in our response. I have spoken to David and he will be in touch in the next day or two.
Kind regards,
Basil.
12th October 2011 response:
Firstly, I wish to apologise for the delay in responding to your request. David has been very busy with the parking consultation and prioritising it amongst his other daily duties as Head of Service. Nevertheless, this has still taken longer to deal with than I would expect.
In the first instance, David had requested from some local companies to prepare a presentation for consultation purposes. This included a road show type approach, which would have been heavily advertised allowing capture of as many residents in one go as possible. The quotes for this piece of work have just recently come back to David and we have been very surprised at the extraordinarily high prices we have received. The sums of money discussed are not justified and it would be irresponsible for the authority to spend council tax payers' money to that extent.
This has of course led David to think of another approach and he has since written a consultation paper which is going to be delivered at the Central Bedfordshire Lets Talk Together Meetings through this year and in to next. Between David and I, we agreed that this was the best approach to deliver to as many residents in Central Bedfordshire as possible as the meetings are well advertised through our website, council publications and locally.
My response 14th October 2011:
If a consultation paper has been written would it not be a good idea to get better community involvement by doing a consultation exercise through the CBC web site consultation system. You could cover the same period as the Lets Talk meetings October 2011 to end of March 2012.
Could I have a copy of the document ?
Response 20th October 2011:
Thank you for you response, and apologies I have not come back to you sooner. I have made additional enquiries and David is currently in the process of preparing the document in the correct format to be published on the Central Bedfordshire Website, under "Consultations". This indeed has the potential to capture a wider audience than that at the Lets Talk Together meetings, which of course the consultation will still be presented. At this stage I do not have a date as to when the paper will be on the website. Once the document is uploaded, you will be able to download a copy for your information and comment.
Further to this, David will also be holding two, Business Partner/Stakeholder workshops during November/December, which will cover the majority of the relevant businesses and our elected members, along with other stakeholders.
If you do not find the document before I can inform you it is on the website, then I will contact you when it will published,
My response 1st November 2011:
I do check the CBC consultations page from time to time, but if it does not appear on the main page, there is problem with the search facility on the web site. which I have reported. So if you could let me know when it is available I would be grateful.
Could you tell me when and where the workshops will be held in November / December and who would be included under relevant businesses and our elected members, along with other stakeholders. Will invitations for example be going out to our Town Council ?
CBC response 2nd November 2011:
I will indeed let you know when the document is on the website, or perhaps if appropriate David could send you copy direct?
David is a better place to answer your questions regarding who will be invited to the workshops and when they will take place as he is running them, hence copying David in to this email. David or I will reply to you regarding these points as soon as possible,
My email 22nd November 2011 to David Bowie, Head of Traffic Management
Following Paul Salmon’s email of 2nd November 2011 (shown below) I have not received any response.
I understand it was agreed that a consultation exercise would be carried out and for Members to receive the outcomes of consultation report prior to the Executive. Exec: TBC (suggested November or December 2011)
On the 12th July 2011, a press release was issued on the above subject and the concluding paragraph said:
“Local councillors, including parish councils, and key stakeholder groups such as the Chamber of Commerce are to be consulted on the proposals over a three month period. Exhibitions will be held at key locations across Central Bedfordshire as part of the consultation. Details of this will be announced soon.”
I understand the delay in the programme because of the excessive costings that the tendering exercise revealed.
On the 12th October I was told that you had written a Consultation paper to be delivered to the Lets Talk meetings.
On the 20th October 2011 I was told that you were preparing a document in the correct format to be published under “Consultations”.
I now understand that there are “Car Parking Strategy Engagement Workshops” to be held on 30th November and 9 December 2011 and local Councillors have been invited.
As of today there is nothing published on the “Consultations” page current or future.
Can I now have a copy of one of the consultation papers you have produced please?
Email 6th December 2011 from David Bowie, Head of Traffic Management
As promised please find the link below to the parking strategy consultation:-
The document is very much a working draft to give opportunity to not only comment on its content so far but also to influence the further content of the document.
The document appears to be the same one produced in March 2011, that was considered by The Executive in July 2011. You have until 24th February 2012 to complete the questionnaire.
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