Stevenage Borough Council

Parking Services

Report on Parking
Enforcement

2008/09
 Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Background

3. The Purpose of Civil Parking Enforcement

4. Policy and Priorities

5. Civil Parking Enforcement in Stevenage

6. Enforcement Activity On-street

7. Enforcement Activity – Representations, Appeals and Beyond

8. Financial Aspects of Civil Parking Enforcement

9. Future Plans

10. Glossary of Terms

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 1. Introduction

Local authorities engaged in Civil Parking Enforcement under the Traffic

Management Act 2004 are required to produce an annual report on their
enforcement activities within six months of the end of each financial year.
They are also required to make a statistical return to the Department for
Transport in respect of their activities during the same period, on a common
date. The first such return, in respect of 2007/08 and 2008/09 will take place
on 1 October 2009.

The Secretary of State’s ‘Statutory Guidance to Local Authorities on the Civil

Enforcement of Parking Regulations’ suggests what local authorities’ annual
reports might contain. This report includes such items but goes further in
terms of explaining the statistics in the context of Stevenage Borough
Council’s overall policy objectives. Where appropriate, the Council’s
performance is benchmarked against previous years’ figures or a national
standard.

2. Background

Stevenage Borough Council adopted Decriminalised Parking Enforcement

(DPE) powers in June 2005. In respect of its on-street parking enforcement
activities, Stevenage Borough Council acts on behalf of Hertfordshire County
Council (the highway authority) under the terms of an agency agreement
between the two authorities. As the parking authority, Stevenage Borough
Council is responsible for the management (and where appropriate the
enforcement) of its own off-street car parks.

Stevenage Borough Council (together Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council) has

commissioned East Herts Council to enforce on-street parking controls on its
behalf, also under an agency agreement. The agency agreement covers the
provision of Civil Enforcement Officers and the processing of Penalty Charge
Notices (PCNs).

East Herts Council and Welwyn Hatfield Councils have prepared their own
annual report. This report covers only the enforcement activity of Stevenage
Borough Council during the period April 2008 - March 2009.

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 3. The Purpose of Civil Parking Enforcement

Local authorities have enjoyed powers to manage and enforce their own
off-street car parks for many years; however until recently most on-street
parking enforcement was undertaken by police officers or police-employed
traffic wardens.

In the mid-1990s central government gave local authorities the right to apply
for powers to enforce on-street parking restrictions. The adoption of what was
then called Decriminalised Parking Enforcement (DPE) but is now termed
Civil Parking Enforcement, or CPE, spread rapidly across the United Kingdom
in the following fifteen years. The Secretary of State for Transport has taken
reserve powers within the Traffic Management Act 2004 to compel any
remaining local authorities to adopt CPE once a ‘critical mass’ of councils has
adopted these powers.

There were three main drivers for the decriminalisation of parking offences:

 Police forces had signalled to central government that that they could
no longer regard parking enforcement as a priority function given the
myriad of other demands upon their limited resources. In many areas
traffic wardens had effectively been withdrawn, causing growing
parking anarchy on our streets.
 It was considered that many parking “offences” would be better dealt
with under civil law procedures, which are more cost effective and less
formal to operate, rather than allowing them to clog up the criminal
courts.
 Local authorities themselves argued that as representatives of their
community they were best placed to design and run an enforcement
regime that met the priorities of that community.

The primary purpose of CPE, as identified in statutory guidance, is to support

local authorities in their delivery of their overall transport objectives in areas
such as those detailed below.

 Managing the traffic network to ensure expeditious movement of traffic,

(including pedestrians and cyclists), as required under the TMA
Network Management Duty.
 Improving road safety.
 Improving the local environment.
 Improving the quality and accessibility of public transport.
 Meeting the needs of people with disabilities, some of whom will be
unable to use public transport and depend entirely on the use of a car.
 Managing and reconciling the competing demands for kerb space.

Central government is also clear in explaining what CPE is not about. In

particular, government emphasises that CPE is not to be regarded as a
revenue raising exercise. Whilst Government accepts that local authorities will
seek to make their CPE operations as close as possible to self-financing as
soon as possible, it advises that any shortfall must be met from within existing
budgets rather than falling on the local or national taxpayer.

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The traffic management objectives of CPE are achieved primarily through
encouraging compliance with parking restrictions – and it is with this objective
in mind that Stevenage Borough Council enforces parking throughout the
district. Ways in which the parking enforcement service can support
Stevenage Borough Council’s vision and corporate priorities are also of
importance and are addressed below.

4. Policy and Priorities

Transport is of great concern to the community of Stevenage Borough Council

and this is underlined every time our residents and local businesses are
invited to comment on the matter.

The Stevenage Community Strategy 2009-2024, “Our Town Our Future”,

confirms that Stevenage has a high rate of car ownership, although lower than
the average in the East of England. Only 19% of households have no access
to a car. At the same time, Government predictions of traffic growth in
Hertfordshire are much higher than the national projection, due largely to
anticipated increases in the number of households and jobs in the district.

The economic and environmental consequences of traffic congestion are

becoming increasingly well understood and local authorities at all levels carry
a responsibility to minimise their effects. At the same time, local authorities
have a duty to promote the wellbeing of their communities on a wide range of
fronts, including their economic vitality. For obvious reasons these imperatives
often live in tension with each other and Stevenage Borough Council is
acutely aware of the need to balance its approach to parking enforcement
with these other imperatives.

So how does the parking enforcement service support Stevenage Borough

Council’s priorities for the district?

Stevenage Borough Council has adopted an overarching vision for its

community, supported by six subsidiary objectives.

The Council’s overarching vision is to be “A town we can be proud of, a

place people want to be”.

As has been identified above, as well as having obvious benefits, the

increasing intrusion of the motor vehicle into the life of our community can
have a detrimental effect on our quality of life – whether through the effects of
congestion, pollution or inconsiderate and dangerous parking. The place of
the motor vehicle needs to be managed to ensure these adverse effects are
minimised. Effective enforcement of our streets, leading in turn to improved
compliance with parking restrictions, helps reduce risks to pedestrians and
other road users and promotes the free and safe flow of traffic, thus reducing
congestion and the economic and environmental damage this causes.

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The first of the Council’s subsidiary objectives is “council and community
working together to improve the quality of life”.

Again, by ensuring that vehicles park correctly and safely and by promoting
good traffic flow, the Council’s parking enforcement service contributes
directly to this objective, to the benefit of motorists, users of public transport,
pedestrians and others.

The second subsidiary objective is to deliver services that are “putting

people first - working together & delivering value for money services”

Stevenage’s decision to enter into an agency agreement with East Herts

Council and Welwyn Hatfield Councils for the provision of parking
enforcement services shows a commitment to this objective. The economies
of scale have led to savings to the authority and the joint arrangements have
created increased resilience in service delivery in that if necessary Civil
Enforcement Officers can work across district boundaries.

Apart from the provision of an enforcement service that seeks to meet the
needs of Stevenage’s residents, the Council seeks to provide an excellent
service to all recipients of a Penalty Charge Notice, whether they wish to pay
or challenge. All challenges are considered on Stevenage’s behalf by officers
of East Herts Council in accordance with statute, regulations, guidance and
local policies agreed with Stevenage Borough Council. The Council seeks to
offer a response that is accurate, timely and sensitive and correspondence is
invariably responded to well within timescales set down by government where
these exist.

The third of the council’s subsidiary objectives, “pride in Stevenage” relates

directly to the environmental aspects of the enforcement service. Vehicles
parked in a haphazard and illegal fashion in our town and village centres
detract from the visual amenity and the polluting output from cars searching
for parking places or caught in congestion does the same for the air we
breathe. They can also damage pavements and the services running
underneath them.

In respect of the fourth subsidiary objective, “caring about the

environment” it will be appreciated that some aspects of traffic and parking
management are properly addressed through the planning and development
control process. Planning policy and transportation policy go hand in hand
and when planning applications are considered, the parking and transport
aspects of the proposal can be an important element of the Council’s
considerations. A large number of high density developments have sprung up
in recent years, some without private parking provision by design. The parking
enforcement service helps ensure that the use of cars associated with all such
developments is managed, to the benefit of all. Financial contributions
towards transport improvements secured from applicants as part of the
planning process are becoming of increasing importance to both the County
Council and Stevenage Borough Council.

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For reasons outlined above, the place of the motor vehicle in Stevenage will
become more contentious and will need to better and better managed,
particularly as more and more development takes place.

In summary, although not always apparent, parking enforcement in

Stevenage contributes much to the council’s strategic objectives and has the
potential to contribute more fully in the future.

5. Civil Parking Enforcement in Stevenage

CPE in Stevenage is undertaken by a team of three Civil Enforcement

Officers. The on-street enforcement function is contracted out and the
enforcement contractor is actively managed by East Herts Council under an
agency agreement with Stevenage Borough Council. Regular contact is
maintained between the two councils to ensure the service continues to
perform according to Stevenage’s policy and service objectives.

After a Penalty Charge Notice has been issued, all subsequent processing,
including the consideration of challenges is undertaken by officers of East
Herts Council acting on behalf of Stevenage Borough Council. The Council
regards this split in functions as important as it helps avoid any possible
suggestion that a profit motive shapes this important function. Council officers
are properly disinterested in the outcome yet have good local and procedural
knowledge – important factors in reaching a correct and soundly based
decision.

Although it has the powers by virtue of having adopted CPE, Stevenage

Borough Council does not clamp or remove vehicles. Clamping is no longer
favoured as an enforcement tool, as it all too often results in a vehicle being
made to remain at an inappropriate location for longer than is necessary. The
cost of setting up and running a removal operation, including a vehicle pound
for the purpose of storing vehicles would be disproportionate to the benefit it
might create for a smaller council such as Stevenage.

6. Enforcement Activity

The number of PCNs issued since Stevenage Borough Council adopted CPE
is detailed below:

Year Total PCNs

2005/06 5885
2006/07 6348
2007/08 5551
2008/09 5988

This pattern is not typical of local authorities that take on CPE powers.
An initially high level of PCNs usually decreases quickly as motorists
recognise that parking enforcement is in operation and compliance grows.

The number of PCNs issued for the key contraventions in 2008/09 is detailed
in Appendix A.

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Through diligent use of resources and targeting certain “hot spot” areas
Stevenage has managed to buck that trend. (The increase between 2007/08
and 2008/09 reflects the fact that additional CEO resource was procured
during the period based on evidence amassed during earlier years).

With effect from 2008/09, Government introduced differentiated penalty

charges, whereby some parking contraventions attract a higher level penalty
charge according to their perceived seriousness. These are typically on-street
contraventions. As a result, as can be seen below, in 2008/09 most penalty
charges in Stevenage were issued at the higher rate.*

Year Higher Level PCNs (£70) Lower Level PCNs (£50)

2008/09 4504 1484
*Comparisons with previous years are not possible as differential charging commenced in 2008/09

It is important to emphasise that cancellation of a PCN does not mean that it

should not have been issued in the first place. There are many occasions
where a CEO is quite correct to issue a PCN based on the evidence available
at the time, but where the Council quite correctly cancels the Notice upon
receipt of evidence from the motorist as to the circumstances that led them to
park as they did on the day in question.

For example, a medical emergency may have overtaken the motorist or their
passenger. A CEO could not possibly know of this at the point of issue, but
properly evidenced to the Council, such a situation would normally lead to the
cancellation of the penalty charge on discretionary grounds.

There are also a number of circumstances where a motorist’s activities

exempt them from the restrictions detailed in the Traffic Regulation Order. The
main exemption concerns loading or unloading. A CEO cannot always know
that such an activity is taking place and in these circumstances it may be
necessary for the recipient of a PCN to challenge its issue, again supplying
such evidence as may be available in support of their case.

The general rule concerning Civil Parking Enforcement is that where a council
alleges a contravention it is for the council to establish, on balance of
probabilities that the contravention occurred. The exception to this rule is
where the motorist seeks to claim an exemption (such as loading or
unloading), in which case the motorist must satisfy the council, again on the
balance of probabilities, that they were entitled to the benefit of that exemption
at the time the PCN was issued.
Stevenage Borough Council will continue to ensure that its enforcement
activity is tailored to meet the enforcement and other policy objectives of the
authority whilst recognising that flexibility is needed to respond to an
environment that can change on an almost day to day basis.

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 7. Enforcement activity – Representations, Appeals and Beyond

A 50% discount applies to a PCN paid within 14 days of the date of issue
(with the date of issue counting as day 1). The number of PCNs issued in
previous years and paid at the discounted rate is as follows:

Year PCNs Paid at Discount

2005/06 2659(51.84%)
2006/07 3093 (48.72%)
2007/08 2999 (54.00%)
2008/09 3104 (51.84%)

The above payments will either have been made immediately upon receipt of
the PCN or following an informal challenge which the Council has declined.
This illustrates the fact that the majority of motorists who receive a PCN
accept their liability for the penalty charge and make prompt payment.

Following the 14 day period the penalty charge reverts to its full value and the
penalty charge increases in set steps thereafter. The number of PCNs issued
in previous years that were paid at the full rate or higher is as follows:

Year PCNs Paid at Full Charge or Higher

2005/06 563 (9.56%)
2006/07 707 (11.14%)
2007/08 691 (12.45%)
2008/09 704 (11.81%)*
*A number of PCNs issued in 2008/09 remain the subject of active enforcement; therefore this figure may increase.

Any motorist who receives a PCN is entitled to challenge its issue. The Traffic
Management Act 2004 sets out a number of statutory grounds on which a
PCN may be challenged and which, if established, require a local authority to
cancel the motorist’s liability for the penalty charge (Appendix B).

In addition to invoking the statutory grounds, a large number of motorists

contact the council offering mitigating circumstances which they hope will lead
to cancellation of the penalty charge on discretionary grounds. Stevenage
Borough Council has adopted a set of Enforcement Guidelines to assist staff
in taking enforcement decisions in a wide range of circumstances.

No set of guidelines can ever cover the range of situations in which motorists
find themselves; however the Enforcement Guidelines are invaluable in terms
of setting a framework and establishing the tone of the Council’s enforcement
practices.

Typically around 22% of PCNs issued are cancelled upon receipt of a

challenge or representation and the principle reasons ascribed to cancellation
of PCNs during 2008/09 are detailed in Appendix C.

A number of PCNs are written off each year, often because the
motorist/owner cannot be traced – either because of an inadequate record at
the DVLA or because the motorist/owner is no longer at the address they

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have registered with the DVLA. Typically around 6% of PCNs are written off
for this reason.

The number and percentage of PCNs cancelled in previous years, either

following a challenge or because the vehicle owner was untraceable, is as
follows:

Year PCNs Cancelled

2005/06 1264 (21.48%)
2006/07 1407 (22.16%)
2007/08 866 (15.59%)
2008/09 1416 (23.65%)

Of the 5,988 PCNs issued in 2008/09:

1. 1693 PCNs were the subject of an “informal” challenge (normally made

within 14 days of issue of the PCN).

Of the above, 1083 PCNs were cancelled at this challenge stage.

2. 1169 PCNs were the subject of a statutory representation upon receipt

by the vehicle’s owner of a Notice to Owner (a letter sent to a vehicle’s
owner no earlier than 28 days after the issue of a PCN.

Of the above, 1020 were cancelled at this statutory representations

stage.

Stevenage Borough Council benchmarks its performance with nearby local

authorities whose demographics broadly match its own. The following table
shows performance for 2008/09 against the above criteria.

Local PCNs Paid Cancelled Live

Authority Issued PCNs PCNs and/or
written
off
PCNs
Cambridge 43,372 75% 19% 6%
Welwyn 7,902 74% 21% 5%
Hatfield
Watford 22,925 70% 21% 9%
East Herts 26,996 69% 24% 7%
North Herts 12,492 67% 22% 11%
Dacorum 18,030 66% 28% 6%
Stevenage 5,988 66% 28% 6%

N.B. Figures relate to enforcement activity during the year in question irrespective of
the date of issue of the PCN, therefore percentages will differ from those offered
elsewhere in this report and from the Council’s return to the DfT.

Should the council reject their statutory representation, the vehicle’s owner is
entitled to appeal that decision to the independent Parking Adjudicator.

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 Of the 5,988 PCNs issued by Stevenage Borough Council in 2008/09,
28 were the subject of an appeal to the independent Parking Adjudicator – an
appeal rate of 0.47%.

The Traffic Penalty Tribunal issues an Annual Report in which the

performance of all local authorities in England and Wales is benchmarked.
The following table compares Stevenage Borough Council’s performance at
appeal in 2008/09 to the national average. The appeal figures for the
benchmarked councils on the previous page are also included.

No. of Rate of Not Allowed by Refused by Awaiting

Appeals appeals appeal contested Adjudicator (in Adjudicator decision
2008/09 per by council favour of (in favour of
PCN appellant). Council)
Inc. not
contested
National 12,424 0.31% 34% 62% 35% 3%
Picture
Cambridge 53 0.12% 23% 36% 62% 2%
North Herts 22 0.19% 32% 59% 41% 0%
Dacorum 42 0.23% 50% 64% 33% 2%
Welwyn 22 0.28% 14% 59% 36% 5%
Hatfield
East Herts 75 0.28% 12% 55% 44% 1%
Watford 89 0.39% 15% 51% 47% 2%
Stevenage 28 0.47% 21% 61% 36% 4%

A local authority’s performance at appeal can be regarded as a proxy

indicator of its performance at earlier stages in the enforcement process. As
can be seen, Stevenage Borough performance in this important area in
2008/09 was very much in line with the national average. Whilst the rate of
appeal per PCN was higher than the average, it will be noted that Stevenage
experienced a very small number of appeals.

As well as being an essential judicial “safety valve” for the CPE process,
individual appeal decisions and of course the Adjudicators’ Annual Report
contain findings, information and advice which can be of great assistance to
local authorities in their operation of their on-street and back office
enforcement regime. Stevenage Borough Council will continue to use these
important sources of external comment and information to develop its
enforcement practices.

Debt Registration and Bailiffs

If a motorist does not pay the penalty charge or is unsuccessful in challenging

the notice (and assuming an accurate address is held by the DVLA) the notice
may be registered as a debt in the County Court. Only at this stage does a
penalty charge become a civil debt.

Although it is not required to do so, Stevenage Borough Council sends a

further letter to the vehicle owner before registering the penalty charge at the
County Court. This affords motorists a final chance to make payment of the
penalty charge before it is registered as a debt.

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In 2008/09 82 PCNs were registered as a debt in the County Court. (The date
of issue of many of these PCNs will have been prior to the period in question
as by definition, debt registration can only take place a number of months
after a PCN has been issued). Failure to pay this debt within the timescale
specified results in the passing of the debt to bailiffs.

8. Financial Aspects of Civil Parking Enforcement

The Road Traffic Act 1991, which brought in Decriminalised Parking

Enforcement until April 2008, required local authorities to seek to make their
parking enforcement regime self-financing as soon as possible. Local
authorities were not, however, allowed to design and run their enforcement
regime to make a surplus. Any surplus that was generated was ‘ring fenced’
to fund improvements in related areas such as passenger transport or car
park.

As more and more local authorities took on DPE powers, government

increasingly recognised that for many, particularly smaller boroughs and
district councils, achieving break-even would not be possible. Accordingly, the
Traffic Management Act 2004 softened this requirement. From 1 April 2008 a
local authority has been able to apply for CPE powers without demonstrating
that it will break even, but on the understanding that any deficit would be met
from within existing funding. Government has made it quite clear that national
or local taxpayers are not to bear any shortfall.

The annual cost of enforcement (contract cost) and annual income from PCNs
issued by Stevenage Borough Council is shown below. (Additional costs, such
as the council’s contribution to East Herts Council for the provision of contract
management and notice processing services are not included).

Year Contract Costs PCN Revenue

2006/07 £123,545.00 £74,000.00
2007/08 £203,264.15 £157,343.00
2008/09 £247,933.00 £188,476.00

It is a commonly held belief that parking enforcement is a purely revenue

raising exercise; however it will be seen that (in common with many smaller
local authorities) Stevenage Borough Council does not break even on its
enforcement activities alone.

The deficit is effectively made good from the Council’s General Fund into
which income from parking in Stevenage car parks is paid. This is
appropriate, as one of the reasons why a motorist will have been able to drive
to a Stevenage car park, ideally with the minimum of inconvenience and find a
space, is because of compliance with on-street parking controls achieved
through effective enforcement.

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 9. Future Plans

The traffic management objectives of CPE as identified by Government and

set out earlier in this report remain at the core of this authority’s enforcement
and practices.

In 2009 Government cleared the way for local authorities to enforce additional
contraventions under CPE. The power to issue a PCN to a vehicle parked
across a dropped kerb will assist residents whose driveways are obstructed
by inconsiderately parked vehicles, just as the ability to issue a PCN to
vehicles that park across the dropped kerbs where a footway abuts a road will
assist a great many pedestrians as well as other motorists. The power to
issue a PCN to vehicles parked an unreasonable distance from the kerb, and
therefore obstructing the highway, may also be of benefit.

Hertfordshire County Council, as the highway authority, has worked with

district councils to secure a common approach to the exercise of these new
powers with all Hertfordshire districts and these powers were adopted in
Stevenage from August 2009. An account of how these additional powers
were used in Stevenage will be contained in the Council’s 2009/10 annual
report.

Footway parking is another matter that exercises the minds of many

Stevenage residents. It is rarely acceptable for a vehicle to be parked even
partly on a footway – particularly if the safe passage of pedestrians is
impeded as a result. That said there are some streets in Stevenage where
footway parking may need to be accommodated, albeit on a managed basis,
for sound traffic management reasons.

Stevenage has promoted a Traffic Regulation Order prohibiting footway and

grassed verge parking in three areas of the town. This Traffic Order was
originally applied as an Experimental Order but was so successful in dealing
with the problems that it was made permanent within 18 months of its
inception. The Council’s policy is to roll out the prohibition Order across the
town to reduce the environmental impact of verge and footway damage and
reduce the cost of applying verge protection. The intention is to take this to
other areas in the town starting with the Bedwell area in late 2009 / early
2010. An assessment of this aspect of the enforcement service will be
contained within the Council’s 2009/10 annual report.

To address the large volume of complaints about commercial vehicles parking

in residential roads, Stevenage carries out early morning enforcement to deal
with commercial vehicles parking in contravention of the 5 tonnes parking
ban. There are plans to carry out a trial under an Experimental Traffic Order to
lower the threshold weight limit to 2.5 tonnes in the Bedwell area of the town
which will effectively remove all vehicle of transit van size and above from
residential streets to an authorised site after 8pm in the evening until 7 am in
the morning and at all times during the weekend. This will lessen the
environmental impact that these vehicle cause to residential streets and free
up much needed road space for residents private vehicles.

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Technological advances now make it possible for customers to access the
parking service through an increasing number of channels. Motorists may now
register a PCN challenge over the telephone and via the internet. Early
indications are that the creation of these new access channels has resulted in
an increased rate of challenge. Again, a full analysis of the impact of these
developments will be offered in the Council’s annual report for 2009/10.

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