Agenda item

Car Parking Revenue

It was moved by Councillor Ian Auckland, seconded by Councillor Colin Ross, that this Council:-

(a)       believes it is unacceptable to treat motorists as a cash cow for the Council;

(b)       recalls the annual parking enforcement reports introduced by the last Administration to bring transparency to parking services, which were nationally recognised as leading practice;

(c)       notes the recent report of the Transport Select Committee, which called on every local authority to publish an annual parking report outlining revenue gained from parking and how this money is spent;

(d)       regrets that under the current Administration the annual parking enforcement reports have ceased and that not a single report has been published covering the current Administration’s time in control; and

(e)       therefore, calls upon the Administration to immediately publish a record of the revenue raised by parking services and how it has been spent.

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Leigh Bramall, seconded by Councillor Chris Rosling-Josephs, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by:-

1.          the deletion of all the words after the words “reports” in paragraph (b) and their substitution by the words “for which plans were put in place by the previous Labour Administration but implemented by the previous Administration and regrets the  shameful attempt to take credit for a plan that the previous Administration inherited from their predecessors”;

2.          the addition of a new paragraph (c) as follows and the re-lettering of original paragraph (c) as a new paragraph (d):-            

(c)     notes that Sheffield’s reports demonstrate that the previous Administration clearly oversaw surpluses in parking services which were justified on the basis that “The surplus generated from the City Council’s parking activities contributes to the overall provision of Transportation, Parking and Highway services in the city.”

3.         the deletion of original paragraphs (d) and (e); and

4.         the addition of new paragraphs (e) to (h) as follows:-

(e)     notes that figures regarding income from parking services and associated costs have frequently been published in the public domain under the present Administration and regrets the continued political opportunism of the main opposition group;

(f)      welcomes that the Cabinet Member for Business, Skills and Development had already instructed officers to produce a parking enforcement report and looks forward to its publication;

(g)     reminds the main opposition group of the previous Administration’s record on parking which increased charges in all but one year, including the doubling of pay and display charges in permit parking zones; and

(h)     deplores the hypocrisy and cynical political opportunism of the main opposition group who campaigned against the increases of parking permit prices from £10 to £20 in 2012 and cynically dropped this commitment in their following year’s budget proposal and believes that this is indicative of a culture of casual broken promises within the party of the main opposition group.

On being put to the vote the amendment was carried.

The original Motion, as amended, was then put as a Substantive Motion in the following form and carried:-

RESOLVED:  That this Council:-

(a)       believes it is unacceptable to treat motorists as a cash cow for the Council;

(b)       recalls the annual parking enforcement reports for which plans were put in place by the previous Labour Administration but implemented by the previous Administration and regrets the  shameful attempt to take credit for a plan that the previous Administration inherited from their predecessors;

(c)       notes that Sheffield’s reports demonstrate that the previous Administration clearly oversaw surpluses in parking services which were justified on the basis that “The surplus generated from the City Council’s parking activities contributes to the overall provision of Transportation, Parking and Highway services in the city.”

(d)       notes the recent report of the Transport Select Committee, which called on every local authority to publish an annual parking report outlining revenue gained from parking and how this money is spent;

(e)       notes that figures regarding income from parking services and associated costs have frequently been published in the public domain under the present Administration and regrets the continued political opportunism of the main opposition group;

(f)        welcomes that the Cabinet Member for Business, Skills and Development had already instructed officers to produce a parking enforcement report and looks forward to its publication;

(g)       reminds the main opposition group of the previous Administration’s record on parking which increased charges in all but one year, including the doubling of pay and display charges in permit parking zones; and

(h)       deplores the hypocrisy and cynical political opportunism of the main opposition group who campaigned against the increases of parking permit prices from £10 to £20 in 2012 and cynically dropped this commitment in their following year’s budget proposal and believes that this is indicative of a culture of casual broken promises within the party of the main opposition group.

(Note: Councillor Robert Murphy voted for paragraphs (a) to (d), (f) and (g), against paragraph (e) and abstained on paragraph (h) of the Substantive Motion and asked for this to be recorded.)