Agenda item

PARKING SERVICES – CONTRACTOR PERFORMANCE REVIEW, APCOA PARKING. YEAR 2.

Minutes:

ES18089

 

The Committee was presented with a report on ‘Parking Services—Contractor Performance Review, APCOA Parking, Year 2’.  The report had been written by Chloe Wenbourne (Acting Head of Parking Services). Ms Wenbourne attended to present the report, along with Mr Angus Culverwell (Assistant Director, Traffic and Parking). Mr Ken Stone attended from APCOA.

 

The report was written to update Members on the performance of the Parking Services Contract. The report stated that the contract was approaching the end of its second year, and that overall the contractor was performing to a satisfactory level.

 

The Chairman clarified that the report was also going to the Environment PDS Committee. The PP&E PDS Committee would be focusing solely on areas related to enforcement.

 

Ms Wenbourne said that some improvement in KPI enforcement targets had been evidenced. Mr Stone stated that he was seeking to develop a better working relationship with LBB. He wanted to improve staff retention which had been an issue in the past. To this end, staff had been granted a pay award in October 2018.

 

The Chairman noted the issues around staff retention, and was hopeful that the matter could be improved. Mr Stone responded that APCOA staff were paid above the national minimum wage and would soon benefit from another 2% pay award. Mr Stone fully understood the importance of retaining staff, as it was costly to lose and retrain them.

 

The Chairman was concerned to note that four Contract Managers had been appointed over a short time-frame. It was suggested that this was because the pressure and workload of managing a shared service with LB Bexley had proved too difficult. A new Contracts Manager was starting soon who was experienced at managing a team. It was anticipated that she would be able to motivate staff and increase morale. 

 

The Chairman commented that the number of parking tickets issued had decreased and he asked why this had occurred. Ms Wenbourne replied that this was probably due to staffing issues, but this would be something that would be investigated.

 

The Chairman was impressed to hear about the benefits that had been accrued from using the ANPR moped, and he hoped that more of these could be used for various enforcement functions in the future. 

 

The Chairman referred to table PK3 (appendix 2 of the report) which detailed civil enforcement errors. It was observed that within year 2 of the contract, there had been 685 cases cancelled as a result of CEO (Civil Enforcement Officer) error—this averaged out to 76 per month. It was hoped that this figure would drop in the future.

 

A discussion took place concerning parking contraventions outside of schools. There seemed to be a desire amongst Members to be more aggressive and pro-active in combating parking contraventions outside of schools. A Member referred to Harris Academy in Lennard Road and expressed the view that continual and widespread contraventions were occurring without any enforcement action being undertaken. Mr Culverwell responded that when CEOs were sent to Harris Academy, no contraventions had been observed.

 

The Chairman highlighted a similar problem at Redhill School in Chislehurst, where a teacher had been assaulted. The Chairman felt that more enforcement should take place, and that there was a clear need for more enforcement cameras. He remarked that if enforcement was not being undertaken rigorously, then this not only lost revenue for the Council, but more importantly it would compromise people’s safety. Ms Wenbourne assured that LBB would be acquiring more cameras that could be used outside of schools. The request for more cameras would be passed on to the Chairman of the Environment, and Community Services PDS Committee.

 

A co-opted member stated that she would like to see a complete no parking zone outside of schools.

 

The Chairman asked if there were many complaints raised against CEOs. Ms Wenbourne clarified that only three such complaints had been raised. In these cases the public had complained that a CEO had been rude to them. The three CEOs concerned had since left the organisation. 

 

RESOLVED that

 

1) The report is noted, and that the Committee particularly take note of the ongoing work being undertaken to ensure that adequate deployment and compliance was taking place across the borough. 

 

2) The request for more cameras that could be used to enforce parking restrictions outside of schools is notified to the Chairman of the Environment and Community Services Committee.

 

3) The Interim Head of Parking Services should investigate why the number of PCNs issued had decreased, and report back to the Committee.

 

 

Post meeting note:

 

With respect to point 2 above, the request for more enforcement cameras to be used outside of schools was referred to the Chairman of the Environment and Community Services PDS Committee at the Committee’s meeting on February 5th 2019.

 

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