Minutes:
The Committee considered the undernoted report:
“1 Relevant Background Information
1.1 The Department of Regional Development (DRD) currently provides both on-street and off-street car parking spaces across Northern Ireland. As part of Local Government Reform the Northern Ireland Executive in April 2013 agreed that the ownership of off-street car parks, (excluding Park & Ride and Park & Share) their management and enforcement should transfer from the DRD to Councils on 1st April 2015.
1.2 Management of these off-street car parks will allow the Council to develop parking policies and set parking tariffs and enforcement policies that will help support the local economy, active transport and the accessibility of the City. It is estimated that the Council will be responsible for around 15% of non-residential car parking spaces in the City post transfer.
1.3 The DRD are currently preparing a transfer scheme in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Act (NI) 2014 for the assets including land, ‘pay and display’ machines, street lighting within car parks etc and discussions with Councils are ongoing. The negotiations and due diligence on the details are being raised with DRD.
1.4 It is currently proposed that approximately 28 car parks, providing almost 1900 car parking spaces, will transfer to the new Belfast City Council. 15 of these car parks, providing almost 1300 spaces (mostly in the city centre), charge for parking. However the DRD have also indicated that a number of these fee paying car parks (approximately 6) could be retained by them for future road schemes. The remaining 13 car parks are currently free to use.
1.5 The DRD have valued the 28 car parks transferring to the Council at £6.7 million. In 2013/14 the car parks generated approximately £1.6 million in ticket income and a further £100,000 estimated through the issuing of Parking Charge Notices (PCN’s).
The DRD have now provided the necessary financial information on the running costs of the car parks and the function and it was anticipated that for Belfast it will operate at a profit at the point of transfer. However there is also a proposal that surplus income would be deducted from the overall LGR allocation.
1.6 Recently DRD have also indicated their intention not to transfer all of the original numbers/locations discussed- Members should see reference to this in the other report on the consultation Bill.
1.7 The DRD are currently consulting on the proposed legislation to give Councils the necessary powers to operate off street car parks and enforce parking contraventions therein.
1.8 A Regional Roads subgroup of the Transfer of Functions Working Group (ToFWG) has been established including a number of council Chief Executives, DRD officials and council officers to facilitate the smooth transfer of this function and consider the most effective deliver model at the point of transfer.
2 Key Issues
2.1 It is anticipated that the new Belfast City Council will assume ownership of DRD off-street car parks (excluding Park & Ride and Park & Share) on the 1st April 2015. This would allow councils, from that date, to change tariffs and enforcement approaches and consider those which are owned by DSD within the Council’s asset management strategy.
2.2 It is proposed that the majority of DRD’s existing off street car parking assets will transfer to the new Councils. However, recent discussions with DRD indicate that they are proposing to exclude a number of car parks for outright transfer to the Council on the basis that they will be required for future major road schemes at City Centre Ring South and York Road Interchange. Members should note the other report on the off street Bill consultation in this regard.
2.3 Currently enforcement and servicing in off-street parks is provided for the DRD through a contract with NSL. It is estimated regionally that 75 FTE’s are employed by NSL for off-street parking. Processing of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) is carried out by DRD staff, using an ICT contract with Spur Information Solutions Ltd. It is estimated regionally DRD employ 15 FTE’s for off-street parking. The Spur and NSL contracts break at the end in October 2016. To operate the car parking service, DRD also has agreements with many stakeholders including Client and Direct Service arms of DRD, hardware and payment software providers, DVA and its Irish counterpart DVCSD, and the Enforcement of Judgements Office.
2.4 Agreement on a future delivery model is required in order to progress the issue of the transfer of off-street car parking and to ensure the implementation of practical arrangements necessary to maintain and deliver agreed services and resources on 1st April 2015. A two stage approach is proposed and has been discussed and proposed by the regional transfer group:
1. Transition
2.5 It is considered that there would be insufficient time for Councils to establish new contractual arrangements for this service before 1st April 2015. Therefore through the Regional Roads Sub Group the DRD has agreed in principle to provide services to councils for the enforcement and servicing of car parks until the existing contracts break at the end of October 2016. The level of service and cost would be agreed in a service level agreement between individual Councils and DRD.
2. Transformation
2.6 In the interim period work with the other Councils and the DRD would continue to explore and develop longer term options for the future delivery of the enforcement service post October 2016.
2.7 Future proposals around parking and enforcement policies including tariffs will need to be considered and brought to members for discussion in subsequent reports.This will also need to be considered in light of the emerging city centre regeneration strategy and the vision and aspirations of Members following on from the Future City Conference in June.
3 Resource Implications
3.1 HR Implications
The DRD have proposed that no staff will transfer to Councils with the transfer of off-street car parking. If the Council decided to change the enforcement arrangements after October 2016 TUPE may apply to NSL staff employed in off-street enforcement at that time.
3.2 Financial implications
It was anticipated that off-street car parking will be profitable to Belfast City Council at the point of transfer; however this also is dependent on parking charges and pricing policies. DRD have not as yet provided full costs at Council and car park level.
3.3 The recent budget allocation information provided by the Department of the Environment implies a direct impact on the net effect of the overall LGR budget transfer. They differ substantially from earlier figures provided in the Deloitte due diligence report. The Council would have concerns in relation to the principle whereby the net surplus is offset against other transferring budgets
3.4 Equipment Implications
‘Pay and display’ machines, street lighting within car parks, e-charging points etc. will transfer with the car parks.
4 Equality and Good Relations Considerations
4.1 No equality or good relations implications.
5 Call In
5.1 This decision is subject to Call In.
6 Recommendations
6.1 Members are asked to approve:
1. That Officers progress the development of a Service Level Agreement between the Council and the DRD to continue to provide the current systems for parking regulation within off-street car parks between 1st April 2015 and October 2016; and
2. The Council continues to work with other Councils and the DRD through the Transfer of Functions group to develop longer term options for the future delivery of parking regulation post October 2016, for consideration at future meetings.”
The Committee adopted the recommendations.