The Isle of Wight council’s Parking Annual Report for 2009-10 has just been released prior to the Economy, Environment and Transport Scrutiny Panel next week.
The report, which will be presented by Cllr Edward Giles, gives detailed information of parking provision and strategy across the Island.
If you were wondering how many places to park (or steer clear of at risk of receiving a ticket) on the Island, a handy summary tells us that there are ….
- 79 car parks, of which 22 are free;
- 109 on-street pay & display locations;
- 149 parking ticket machines;
- 26 loading bay locations;
- 61 on-street disabled bay locations;
- 16 school keep clear locations
Parking permits
Since the parking permits were changed earlier this year we expect the figures for 2010-11 are going to be quite different from the previous year.
The report reveals that during the year 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 a total of £983,633 was raised through parking permits.
This include Island Residents’ Permit, Business Permits, Residents Parking Zones, and Tourist Permits.
Penalty charge notices (PCN)
A total of 30,075 PCNs were issued between 1st April 2009 to 31st March 2010 for a wide variety of reasons.
Listed amongst the reasons for the PCNs were …
- Parked in an electric vehicles charging place during restricted hours without charging (1)
- Parked in a restricted street during prescribed hours (3,552)
- Parked without clearly displaying a valid pay & display ticket or voucher (3,336)
- Parked for longer than permitted (5,890)
- Parked in a designated disabled persons parking space without displaying a valid disabled persons badge in the prescribed manner (895)
How many appeals?
The report tells us that during that period, the council received a total of 6,031 challenges against PCNs, which equates to 20.05% of the total figure of penalties issued (30,075).
Out of this figure, 1,063 representations were received, slightly down on the previous year.
Why are PCNs necessary?
The report states that
Parking enforcement income has always been a contentious issue and we often hear the term ‘it is just a money making exercise’. Hopefully the information below [in the report] will go some way to explaining some of the misconceptions about parking income both from PCNs and car parking charges ….
…. The benefits of compliance include improved road safety, better vehicular movement and clearer access for pedestrians and individuals with disabilities. Other less obvious benefits include an enhanced local economy, for example, turnover of parking bays outside shops with time limited bays and the effect of less congestion on the environment.
Total income for 2009-10
If you missed our article back in July about the previous year’s figures, you’re probably wondering just how much income was generated through the various forms of parking and enforcement for year 2009-10.
According to the report, total income on ticket machines, permits and PCNs resulted in a figure of £4,147,115.
It states that running costs come to £1,808,282 in 09-10, leaving a total of £2,338,833 in the council coffers.
| Off-Street (Car Parks) Ticket Machine Income | £1,418,888 | £1,380,437 |
| On-Street Ticket Machine Income | £940,231 | £915,043 |
| Permit Income | £983,633 | £857,067 |
| Penalty Charge Notices | £749,779 | £791,282 |
| Other Income | £54,585 | £46,999 |
| Total Income | £4,147,115 | £3,990,828 |
Given that this is an area of income generation, we’re not sure whether the jobs of the 40 staff in Parking Services are under threat or not.
If you have some spare time on your hands and want to read the report in full, here it is (PDF).
Image: Charleston’s TheDigitel under CC BY 2.0
