Issue - meetings
Lancaster City Centre Draft Car Parking Strategy -
Consultation Report Update and Strategic Parking Numbers
Meeting: 22/10/2024 - Cabinet (Item 37)
PDF 472 KB(Cabinet Member with Special Responsibility Councillor Parr)
Report of Chief Officer Sustainable Growth
Minutes:
(Cabinet Member with Special Responsibility Councillor Parr)
Cabinet received a report from the Chief Officer Sustainable Growth to consider an initial specific issue of parking space numbers and policy implications arising from the public consultation on the Lancaster City Centre Draft Car Parking Strategy 2024.
The options, options analysis, including risk assessment and officer preferred option, were set out in the report as follows:
|
|
Option 1: Progressing Lancaster city centre parking policy options within the context of providing between 1400 and 1500 council operated car parking spaces |
Option 2: Progressing Lancaster city centre parking policy options with the intention of retaining the Draft Strategy recommendation of between 1300 and 1400 council operated car parking spaces |
|
Advantages |
Provides additional comfort, in terms of the ongoing maintenance of city centre economic health, city centre accessibility and car user utility, for the release of the Nelson street car park for housing to be progressed.
Provides a more flexible benchmark for future specific policy considerations to inform decisions on the city council’s car parking portfolio.
Regarded as an optimal number of city centre parking spaces provided by the city council to continue to meet general and peak demand periods for the immediate future.
Provides further comfort to business and community stakeholders that the council impacts from any current and future proposed surface car park disposal policies.
Provides critical context, certainty, and impetus to improve and develop the council’s asset management strategy and future car parking portfolio. |
Provides some certainty and a as benchmark for future specific policy considerations to inform decisions on the city council’s car parking portfolio |
|
Disadvantages |
Requires increased mitigation and planning for additional car parking numbers when considering future strategy and any proposed surface car park disposal decisions. |
Provides less comfort to business and community stakeholders that accessibility and car user utility can be delivered.
Regarded by officers as a sub[1]optimal number of city centre parking spaces provided by the city council to meet general and peak demand periods for the immediate future. |
|
Risks/Mitigation |
Officers are dealing with imperfect information and future demand and supply variables are hard to predict.
Ongoing and improved monitoring of car park usage to inform future decisions is essential to mitigate and review any impacts on car parking portfolio decisions |
As Option 1.
Potential future issues in managing car parking demand in terms of highway and other impacts. |
Following Members’ consideration and confirmation that the increase in strategic parking numbers meets the council’s objectives and its wider policy aspirations, Option 1 is preferred by officers.
Concerns from the business community, about the long-term provision of public parking, and general parking are understood. Through the draft Lancaster City Centre Car Parking Strategy and Action Plan, alongside ongoing work with county council, the issue will be addressed at a strategic city-wide level, with appreciation of the statutory strategic policy imperatives the city council is working within.
Principally these are: its declared Climate Emergency, the Lancaster Highways and Transport Masterplan 2016, and the need to promote ... view the full minutes text for item 37