Annual Parking Report

The main purpose of this report is to look at the work undertaken by the Parking Services Team during 2023/2024 and to provide useful and factual information for our customers.

The report highlights the full range of services provided by Parking Services which include managing and controlling our Car Parks, ensuring the free flow of traffic and the issuing of Penalty Charge Notices.  All of these areas have a positive influence on road safety and to ensure the fair access of available parking spaces to different types of motorists.

Horsham District Council is committed to providing a Parking Service that operates in a fair and consistent manner.  As a Council we are also committed to providing a service that benefits residents, visitors and businesses of Horsham District, ensuring that our district is safe, easily accessible for all road users and thereby supports our local economy.

Horsham District Council owns and manages 23 car parks across the district. To compliment this, on street parking enforcement was contracted to us in 2006 as agents for West Sussex County Council.  As part of this agreement we manage on-street parking to maintain the vitality of and access to our district.

Parking charges and controls are used specifically to manage availability of short stay parking spaces which are protecting the needs of the town centre residents and encourage long stay parking to take place off-street and in the long stay car parks.  This helps to contribute to a higher turnover of vehicles allowing ease of access for potential visitors and customers of the town and surrounding villages.

Overview

Parking controls in Horsham District are essential to keep traffic moving and provide ease of access for residents, businesses and our many visitors to the town.  There is a high demand of parking in parts of the district and this must be managed and controlled effectively.  The parking team work closely with West Sussex County Council to ensure that ad hoc demands and enforcement requests can be met.  In turn a very close relationship is maintained with all our Civil Enforcement Officers, which helps to ensure that all communication between the two organisations is reflected in our enforcement.

A number of large events take place within the district on both an annual and monthly basis, this requires careful planning to ensure that any impact to the surrounding area is kept to a minimum.  The Parking team is equipped to arrange parking bay suspensions or dispensations where necessary. The provision of such bays plays a vital role in supporting the local economy and tourism helping to maintain a balance of the needs of residents, visitors and businesses.

Parking Services Team

Civil Enforcement Officer (CEOs)

The CEO team are responsible for both on and off-street parking enforcement across the whole of the district and the rural areas and is operational 7 days a week.  CEO’s are deployed across the district with patrols concentrated at those locations where parking related issues are most prevalent.

We operate intelligence led patrolling which means that the team frequently respond to specific concerns and or requests received for parking enforcement from members of the public and other agencies such as Police and local Schools.

All our Civil Enforcement Officers have been trained and completed a City & Guilds Level 2 qualification in Civil Parking Enforcement, which includes CEO roles, responsibilities and conflict management.  They will have also completed a range of other generic training such as Health and Safety and Customer Service.

The main aims of the CEO’s are to maintain the free flow of traffic and encourage  compliance within parking restrictions.  Compliance with parking restrictions play an active role in maintaining road safety for drivers as well as pedestrians.

Notice Processing

Notice processing is a demanding procedure requiring the understanding of the legal requirements and guidelines that impact on parking enforcement.   All staff within the Parking Services back office team have completed a City & Guilds Level 3 in Notice Processing or more recently has been renamed WAMITAB qualification which includes an introduction to Notice Processing, Information Management, Processing PCN’s, responding to appeals, and dealing with the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.

The principal duties are responding to challenges, representations and adjudications, which include carrying out investigations into the issue of the Penalty Charge Notices. This involves DVLA checks, location/map checks, TRO checks, evidence supporting the PCN and machine breakdown check etc.

The main aim of a Notice Processor is to ensure that all tickets have been issued appropriately and fairly, ensuring that all processes have been completed correctly and any points raised by the recipient are considered in relation to the penalty charge notice received.

Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) Statistics and Information

Table 1 – Total PCNs Issued 2020-2024

Some Penalty Charge Notices are issued instantly e.g. where a vehicle is parked within a restricted bay, whilst others require an observation e.g. vehicles parked in a car park without displaying a valid pay and display ticket, permit or parking clock (applicable for the rural car parks).

Higher & Lower Rate Contraventions

It is acknowledged that some contraventions are more serious than others.  For example parking on a pedestrian crossing would be a high band PCN, whereas parking for longer than permitted would be a lower band PCN.  The two bands are priced accordingly to reflect this.

The number of higher contraventions that are recorded On-Street exceeds those within our Car Parks.

Table 2 – Higher and Lower statistics 2020 - 2024

On street

Off street

Top 3 contraventions for on street parking

The table below indicates that parking in a Resident or Shared space is the main contravention that occurs on our streets.  All of the top three contraventions that occur on street are classed as higher band penalties.

Table 3 - top 3 contraventions statistics for on-street (2021-2024)

Table 4 - top 3 contraventions statistics for off-street (2021-2024)

Cancellations

Where it is deemed that a Penalty Charge Notice has been issued incorrectly then the ticket will be cancelled.  In addition, cancellation may also result where there are significant mitigating circumstances.

Table 6 - Percentage of PCNs cancelled (2021-2024)

The rate of cancellations has significantly decreased over the last couple of years.  This is a result of the lockdowns lifting and no more restrictions being in place in relation to Covid. Each case is considered on its own merit, taking into account all of the evidence available and the circumstances at the time. An acceptable level of cancellations will therefore always be seen.

Top three reasons for cancellation

Table 7 – Top 3 reasons for cancellation (2021 - 2024)

Financial year 2021/22

Financial year 2022/23

Financial year 2023/24

Challenges, Representations and Appeals

If the recipient of a PCN feels that the PCN should not have been issued for whatever reason, they have the right to submit an appeal.  All appeals must be received in writing (via post or online), full instructions of how to appeal are printed on the back of the Penalty Charge Notice for the ease of the customer.

There are three stages of appeal that are open to the customer:

1. Informal Challenge (within 28 days)
2. Formal Representation (The Registered Keeper receives a Notice to Owner which must be completed either online or returned by post within 28 days.
3. Appeal to Traffic Penalty Tribunal ( A formal representation must have been received and rejected.  Appealing to TPT must be made within 28 days of rejection of formal representation).  Extensive information with regards to the appeal process and the option available can be found on the Patrol UK website.

If the customer does decide to appeal within the 14 day discounted period and parking services rejects the appeal, the 14 day discount period is re-offered.

The table below identifies that the level of Challenges, Representations and Appeals has reduced  over the last year.

Table 8 - Percentage of PCN incoming correspondence

Learning from Appeals

Horsham District Council aim to help motorists understand the parking regulations in our response to their appeals.  We do this by including evidence such as photos of the vehicle, photos of the relevant signs & road markings, extracts from the Highway Code, the Blue Badge Scheme book and relevant legislation if appropriate.

The adjudicator’s decision is considered carefully to ensure that future appeals benefit from any guidance given.  It is also considered that if recommendations are stated, that these are considered within the internal procedures of Parking Services and that the relevant Policies or guidance notes reviewed if felt appropriate.

We also benefit from sharing adjudicator’s decision of our appeals amongst the Civil Enforcement Officers and back office team as a continual learning process to ensure that every case is being dealt with at the highest standard – from issuing the PCN to responding to the appeal and providing clear and concise submissions.

Website

Information held on the HDC website relating to parking is constantly reviewed and updated to ensure that it meets the needs of the customer.  All changes to tariffs are reflected on the website.

All of the guidelines of use of season tickets and residents permits are clearly detailed on our website under the relevant pages.

Details of the Controlled Parking Zone, including area map Permit Applications and prices are also available.  Unfortunately the facility to apply for a permit online is not yet available however the application forms can be downloaded.

Additional information will be included on the website to inform customers of the frequently asked questions we receive and information based on customer feedback.

Website page views

Table 10 – Statistics on specific web pages

Payment channels

Horsham District Council have various payment channels within the car parks, ranging from standard pay & display options to Pay by Phone using the app and the ANPR system in our Multi-Storey Car Parks.  We also have an AutoPay service which allows people to setup an account and automatically pay for parking once the vehicle has left the multi-storey car park.

Off street car parks

Horsham District Council operates 34 car parks across the district, with all the Horsham town centre car parks having been awarded the ‘Park Mark’ safer parking award.

Pay and Display, Ring Go and MiPermit are the methods of payment accepted within the car parks. Season tickets help customers to park as flexibly as possible in our season ticket car parks.  Our multi-storey car parks have the flexibility to obtain season tickets from the new pay machines making this a much easier process for the customer as they are in complete control throughout the entire transaction.

Car park details

Horsham Town Centre car parks

Pulborough car parks

Storrington car parks

Billingshurst car parks

Steyning car parks

Southwater car parks

Roffey car parks

Permits

Table 13 - Resident Permit Statistics 2023/24

Other permits issued for 2023/24 also include Healthcare & Carer permits.

Off street car parking surplus

Information about the use of any surplus.

The use of any surplus is governed by Section 55 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act, 1984 which specifies that the surplus may be used for:

• (a) the making good to the general fund of any amount charged to that fund (to make good any deficit in the SPA) in the 4 years immediately preceding the financial year in question;
• (b) meeting all or any part of the cost of the provision and maintenance by the local authority of off-street parking accommodation, whether in the open or under cover;
• (c) the making to other local authorities or to other persons of contributions towards the cost of the provision and maintenance by them, of off-street parking accommodation, whether in the open or under cover;
• (d) if it appears to the local authority that the provision in their area of further off-street parking accommodation is unnecessary or undesirable, the following purposes: 
  • (i) meeting costs incurred, whether by the local authority or by some other person, in the provision or operation of, or of facilities for, public passenger transport services
  • (ii) the purposes of a highway or road improvement project in the local authority's area
  • (iii) in the case of a London authority, meeting costs incurred by the authority in respect of the maintenance of roads maintained at the public expense by them
  • (iv) the purposes of environmental improvement in the local authority's area, for example:
    Recycling
    Refuse collection
    Street cleaning
    Public Conveniences
    Recreational open space
    Expenditure on the Countryside or Commons
  • (v) in the case of such local authorities as may be prescribed, any other purposes for which the authority may lawfully incur expenditure;

Freedom of Information (FOI)

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) came into force in January 2005.  This means that the general public have even greater access to information held by Horsham District Council that they had previously. Parking Services receives Freedom of Information requests and must respond to these in accordance with the legislation

For the financial year 2023/24, Parking Services received a total of 32 Freedom of Information Requests.

Three most common questions we receive 2023/24

• Penalty Charge Notices Issued
• Parking Operation/Contracts
• On and Off Street Parking

Glossary of Terms used when dealing with a Penalty Charge Notice

Contravention Code Lists

On Street

Off Street