Parking Enforcement in Cornwall

Annual Report

May 2008 – March 2009.

Introduction

1. On 5 May 2008 The Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions

(County of Cornwall) Designation Order 2008 came into force.
Responsibility for enforcing on street parking restrictions passed from the
police to Cornwall County Council.

2. This report outlines the policies underpinning the enforcement

operation, the results in term of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) issued and
surveys of contraventions, financial information and looks to the future of
parking in Cornwall.

Policy

3. Enforcement objectives are compatible with those of the Local

Transport Plan:-
 To reduce congestion, and thereby
 To improve air quality
 To maximise safety
 To support economic regeneration

4. These objectives formed the basis for determining enforcement

priorities and levels. Criteria were developed based on existing
hierarchies of roads and on the strategic importance given to towns and
villages by the LTP.

5. Two other important factors were also taken into account which meant
that enforcement levels were started at a minimum:

6. Firstly other councils had initially undertaken enforcement at a high

level which had led to considerable bad feeling from the public and also
led to budget issues for those councils.

7. Secondly it was recognised that the Unitary Authority would have a

significant impact on the organisation and levels of available staff in the
near future.

8. Over-riding all of the objectives was the need to implement a service

that was cost neutral.

Structure

9. The preferred option for Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) from Central
Government was to have on and off street enforcement carried out by the
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same organisation within a district area. Four of the district councils
refused the County Council invitation to participate in CPE and continued
with their own off street enforcement operations. The resulting structure
was, therefore, as follows.

Table 1: CPE organisation in Cornwall 2008/09

Local Authority Area Covered Number of CEOs
Carrick District Council Carrick - on and off
15
street
Restormel Borough Restormel– on and off
10
Council street
Cornwall County Penwith, Kerrier,
Council Caradon, North
8
Cornwall – on street
only

10. Two processing offices were set up. One in Restormel to process the
PCNs issued in that district and one in Carrick to process the PCNs issued
by themselves and by the County.

11. All the operations were carried out by in-house teams.

Results

12. The number of PCNs issued and a breakdown of information with

regard to payments and appeals is shown in Appendix 1. Unfortunately
the full data is not available for Restormel as the PCN recording system
containing the information was closed down prior to the development (by
the providers of the system) of the mechanism to attain the information in
a consistent manner. There is a considerable cost to reopening the
system and extracting the information and it was felt that it was not an
appropriate use of resources.

13. Some before and after monitoring has taken place and this is shown
below.

Table 2: Parking contraventions – Before and After Survey Parking

207 NNB CPE started May 2008

14. The table shows that the number of contraventions has reduced in
the towns surveyed.

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Finance

15. The table below shows a summary of Cornwall County Council’s Civil
Parking Enforcement account. Due to the way the agreements between
the districts were undertaken it does not include information about
Restormel’s off street enforcement.

Table 3: 2008/09 Cornwall County Council Civil Parking Enforcement

Account
Budget Actual
Enforcement and other
822,660 1,002,399
costs
Processing costs 199,600 238,152
Total Costs 1,022,260 1,240,551
Income (931,232) (1,128,379)
Net Expenditure 91,028 112,172

Future

16. In April 2009 Cornwall Council was established as a unitary authority

for Cornwall. Cornwall County Council, Restormel Borough Council and
Carrick District Council ceased to exist, as did those districts not involved
with CPE.

17. During 2009/10 enforcement will continue to operate much as it did

in 2008/09. The most significant difference being the establishment of
one processing office to deal with all the PCNs issued under CPE.

18. Work is underway to bring the remaining former District Council car
parks under CPE regulations ie those in Caradon, North Cornwall, Kerrier
and Penwith. A revised Designation Order will come into force on 1 April
2010.

19. Work is also underway to harmonise the parking policies of all the
former Councils. A Cabinet Advisory Panel has been set up to examine all
aspects of policies and in April 2010 a Countywide Parking Order will be
made as the first part of these changes. Detailed work on car park
charging will take place during 2010.

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Appendix 1: PCNs issued throughout Cornwall 2008/09.

County Carrick Restormel Total

On On Off Total On Off Total On Off Total
Street Street Street street Street Street Street
Number of Higher Level 7143 13094 269 13363 4178 340
4518 24684 609 25024
PCNs
Number of Lower Level 2051 2133 3854 5987 676 2805
3481 4860 6659 11519
PCNs
Number of PCNs paid 6738 11271 2658 13956
Number of PCNs paid at
5443 9108 2154 11262
the discount rate
Number of PCNs against
which on informal or 2081 4499
formal representation
was made
Number of PCNs
cancelled as a result of an 423 1046
informal or formal
representation
Number of PCNs written 556 1070
off for other reasons
Number of vehicles
Not Applicable
immobilised
Number of vehicles
Not Applicable
removed
Number of appeals to
27 59 19
adjudicator
Number of appeals
9 23 9
refused
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 County Carrick Restormel Total
On On Off Total On Off Total On Off Total
Street Street Street street Street Street Street
Number of appeals not
9 25 5
contested
Percentage of PCNs
77.6 67.6 1.4 69.1 52.2 4.3 56.5 67.5 1.7 68.5
issued at the higher level
Percentage of PCNs
22.3 11.0 19.9 30.9 8.5 35.1 43.5 13.3 18.2 31.5
issued at the lower level
Percentage of PCNs
73.2 58.2 13.8 72.1
issued paid
Percentage of PCNs
issued paid at the 59.2 47.1 11.1 58.2
discounted rate
Percentage of PCNs
issued against which an
22.6 23.3
informal or formal
representation was made
Percentage of PCNs
issued cancelled as a
4.6 5.4
result of an informal or
forma representation
Percentage of PCNs
issued written off for 6.0 5.5
other reasons
Percentage of PCNs
issued taken to 0.3 0.3 0.2
adjudicator
Percentage of appeals to
33.3 39.3 47.4
adjudicator refused
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 County Carrick Restormel Total
On On Off Total On Off Total On Off Total
Street Street Street street Street Street Street
Percentage of appeals to
33.3 42.4 26.3
adjudicator not contested

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