Last week Cllr Cannon presented the RBWM Parking Strategy 2020 – 2025 to cabinet and it had some glaring gaps in its thinking!
- Planning Parking Policy (last revised 2004)
- Pavement Parking Consultation (Gov just finished consultation – no mention!)
- How will RBWM pay for Car Park Electric Points (circa £20m)
It failed to mention revisions to the parking policy allowance relating to planning. This currently stands at an average of 1.5 parking bays per home based on a planning policy document that was last updated in 2004! I have asked for this to be revisited a number of times as someone who sits on the planning panel from time to time and is “forced” to allow permission for a block of flats with completely inadequate parking bays.
I brought this up with the Borough Local Plan Inspector at a recent meeting where I asked her to do all in her power to ensure the planning parking strategy was submitted at the same time as the BLP. The way she questioned RBWM officers immediately after was reassuringly excellent…
Another huge missing entry was around Pavement Parking. Not a mention even though the government have just run a Pavement Parking Consultation which closed a week or so ago. I have written to Cllr Cannon asking to see RBWM’s submission to this consultation.
It will mean no pavement parking which will see a massive need for RBWM to provide parking for those who can no longer park on their street… why was that not in their strategy document?
When I challenged the cost of providing 40% electric charging across RBWM’s car parking it was brushed away with a simple “the strategy is aspirational” … are we suppose to interpret that as “we made it up cos it sounded good but it’ll never happen”.
In the above video of cabinet I summarise my key concerns around the strategy and you’ll see how Cllr Johnson jumps in, shutting me down, defending Cllr Cannon who doesn’t have any answers for me!
Regarding the roll out of electric charging points, the above focuses on the car parks. The domestic side of things works differently and there is a level of government funding to help with the process. A new officer has come on board at RBWM to co-ordinate proceedings and he is preparing a proposed policy document to simplify things for residents and as Vice Chair on Infrastructure O&S I will be looking to understand the detail before sharing more widely with residents in the New Year.
I will also be looking at how we manage highway works… as the picture shows, major junction and it’s seemingly OK to just park your builder trucks as you see fit. Let’s see about that.
Thank you.
Jon
Leave a Reply