Highland Council Car parking recommendations reviewed

28th June 2018

Council has considered and agreed recommendations from a review of car parking by the Redesign Board.

A peer review of car parking was requested by the Redesign Board, with the scope of the review agreed in November 2017. After much deliberation in Board workshops and in two formal Board meetings, the Board agreed it final recommendations and put these to Council for a decision at its meeting on 28 June.

The recommendations from the review relate to a vision for car parking which signifies a real shift to localism, with decision making on services and budget spend at a local level.

The recommendation proposes to devolve budget and decisions on car parking to local committees to enable local benefit from car parking income opportunities, and local choices to be made on a disaggregated budget, including improving or protecting other local Community Services provision or investing in other local priorities. Local committees would monitor budget in year and investment/divestment decisions would be made by the local committee for the year ahead based on actual out-turns in the previous year.

Convener and Chair of Redesign Councillor Bill Lobban said: "The Redesign Board has taken considerable time to review all the implications of the models looked at before agreeing these recommendations and there has been cross party support for the option which increases local decision making powers. In order to deal with some Members' concerns about the income expected from new locations, the Community Services Budget will underwrite any shortfall if the income is not achieved this year (2018/19). This gives the assurance that no area will be disadvantaged in year one. New arrangements will now be in place for consultation to support decisions made locally."

Chair of Environment, Development and Infrastructure, Councillor Allan Henderson said: "There is a finite amount of resource available to us to provide services and various income generation options are available to us in addition to reducing or stopping services. So decisions have to be made somewhere and sometimes these are not easy or popular. This model will mean that local members are in control of making these decisions locally based on their knowledge of local circumstances, public views and consequences."

Leader of the Council Margaret Davidson said: “The recommendation delivers meaningful localism. Our plans will give areas time to work through the options and implications and consider what is best for them and allow time for local solutions to be found.”