Effective road and traffic management

Written evidence from the Green Light Group (GLG) (ETM 27)

Briefing Note

· This paper has been prepared by the Green Light Group (GLG) - the multi-institutional interest group on road pricing. The GLG supports the principle of road pricing generally and seeks to progress its introduction by advising government organisations on practical means of implementation. The GLG was founded by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and includes the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation (CIHT), the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) and the Transport Planning Society (TPS) and is now joined by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI The GLG is also supported by a number of individuals with expert knowledge of road and parking pricing and has taken informal advice from local government associations.

· The focus of this paper is on the pricing of parking in the congested areas of our towns and cities. It introduces a new and equitable approach to pricing by combining well-established parking management practice with the new techniques enabled by more recent legislation.

· The new approach builds substantially on the type of scheme being introduced in Nottingham to charge a levy on workplace parking taking account of the circumstances arising both there and in London.

· This new approach should enable local authorities to act independently in the spirit of "localism" to implement fair and effective means of achieving their local transport objectives.

· The approach has the potential of deriving new revenue for local transport and environmental improvements and reducing congestion and CO2 emissions.

· The approach is capable of being introduced incrementally in any area under existing legislative powers. Relatively minor changes in legislation would be required in due course to enable fully comprehensive parking pricing regimes to be implemented.

· Government should support those local authorities choosing to pursue this new approach by simply freeing them to do so and by progressing those changes in legislation needed to achieve the fully comprehensive pricing regimes.

Preamble

This brief paper considers the possible applications and potential impacts of introducing parking levies in congested urban areas in more equitable ways than previously considered. It also seeks to clarify the basic objectives now applying for such levies - which include reducing congestion and CO2 emissions. One of the advantages of this approach is that it also raises additional revenues which are required by statute to be used for local transport purposes. Hitherto parking levies have only been considered for application on workplace parking. This paper introduces a new concept whereby levies would be applied to a wider range of private parking and combined with price increases for both public and residential parking.

A levy on private non-residential parking (PNR) to reduce traffic congestion was first seriously considered by the GLC for London in the 1970’s but abandoned when the idea of introducing a supplementary licence fee for all road users entering central London seemed to be more effective and deliverable.

The enabling legislation for introducing congestion charging (CC) and workplace parking levies (WPL) eventually followed in the Transport Act 2000. After in depth technical studies carried out by the ROCOL Working Group, managed by GOL, into the overall performance of CC and WPL and much political debate, the Mayor of London decided to press ahead but only with CC. Opposition to the principle of WPL had built up into a national campaign featuring the national Chambers of Commerce and other commercial interests arguing very effectively that the levy would impact on their members and no-one else. Indeed the WPL legislation had been framed more tightly to exclude for example super-markets following successful lobbying by the major food retailers. In Scotland, the Scottish Parliament denied itself the opportunity to introduce the equivalent legislation.

Since the Transport Act was introduced, only Nottingham has taken up the opportunity to adopt WPL and this has been finally endorsed by Government for implementation in October 2012. The scheme in Nottingham has faced and still faces strong opposition from some commercial interests.

Why are Parking Levies Needed?

There are three reasons why levies are needed now. The first reason is to reduce the economic costs of traffic congestion in our towns and cities by influencing travel choice. The second reason is to help tackle the environmental costs including reducing CO2 emissions. The third reason is to raise revenues specifically to help with investment in local transport infrastructure and services. There continues to be little political appetite, at least in the foreseeable future, for progressing to a comprehensive system of road pricing. Even if a broad consensus to implement such a system were achieved, implementation would be unlikely for some considerable time – except perhaps for charging heavy goods vehicles and for new road capacity. Parking levies could at least "fill the gap" until road pricing is eventually introduced. We believe their time has come. Locally applied levies are essentially a local matter and, as with congestion charging, they should no longer be subject to central government approval.

A New Approach

In the briefest outline, the new approach might be as follows;

· Focus any application of levies on inner town and city areas and their principal radial approach roads where there is clear evidence of traffic congestion and parking pressure and on relevant parking in alternative destinations to those towns and cities. Most of these areas would normally have comprehensive on street parking controls and enforcement and ongoing proposals to extend them over time. The roads surrounding out of town retail establishments would need to have on street parking controls.

Apply a modest levy or premium charge on virtually all types of parking space in a manner which results in a broadly equal price increase for their use. The only exemptions might be for private off street residential parking in domestic garages and driveways and for special categories such as for emergency service vehicle parking. In the former case, additional revenues would be captured eventually by means of any future changes in Council Tax as off street parking increases in value. The levies would therefore apply to;

a. Local Authority Public off street parking (POS)

b. Parking meters (PM)

c. On street residents’ parking (RP) in controlled parking zones (CPZs)

All the above categories are well established as charged services and the revenues flow to the relevant local authorities

In addition, levies are needed on;

d. Private Non Residential spaces (PNR)

e. Shoppers’ and community facilities’ parking (SP) – including the major "free standing" supermarkets where parking can be controlled on the surrounding roads

f. Privately Owned Public off street parking (POPOS)

This would require the application of as yet unused legislation to enable authorities to licence privately owned public car parks (POPOS) and thereby set charges and, if necessary, pay compensation for financial loss. This legislation is contained within the Transport (London) Act of 1969 and the Transport Acts of 1978 and 1984. Amendments would be needed to the Transport Act 2000 to include shoppers’ and community facilities’ parking.

The levies would be payable annually, seasonally or by the day or hour depending on the type of parking space involved. The local transport authority would administer the levy schemes and receive most of the payments so generated. Supermarket and privately owned public car parks would initially retain the additional revenues from the levies and new legislation would be needed for them to be captured by the local authorities.

Potential Gross Revenues Yielded by a Parking Levy Scheme

The potential gross revenue yield from a typical town’s inner area already the subject of a controlled parking zone (CPZ) is estimated to be over £6m pa initially and then to increase as it takes further effect on the total parking supply. This revenue would be generated by levies of between 7 and 10% on current public parking charges (off and on street), and £1 per day on private parking..The costs of administration, enforcement and possible compensation for some private owners of public parking would need to be deducted. The net revenue forecast for Nottingham’s levy on PNR alone is approximately £9m pa. This take account of forecast costs in the order of 5%.

In central London alone, the parking supply figures are over 5 times higher than the illustration given here. The supply within that part of inner London already covered by CPZs is much higher again. The scale of potential new gross and net revenues from a relatively modest range of levies there would be high indeed. There many locations, apart from inner London, where these parking levy schemes should be considered. Indeed, in terms of priorities for addressing growing congestion, CO2 emissions and needed improvements to public transport, it would seem necessary to focus initially on free-standing towns and cities outside London and on the outer London town centres.

Since the objectives of introducing parking levies are to reduce traffic congestion and CO2 emissions and to generate new revenues for local transport improvements, the size of the levies may need to be lower or higher than those in this illustration. The effects of increasing the levy over time in real terms will need to be examined further, taking into account their impacts on travel behaviour as well as the social and economic impacts and net revenues obtained by the local authorities.

Comparisons with Congestion Charging

Comparative studies into Congestion Charging (CC) and Workplace parking Levies (WPL) have generally concluded that the former is a more effective instrument for influencing travel behaviour. However, no studies have yet examined the effects of applying parking levies in a more comprehensive manner such as that described above. It is usually argued that because parking levies do not impact on "through" traffic, then they are both inequitable and ineffective. However it is the case that levies could be applied over wider areas without creating the "hard" boundaries that CC schemes require. Parking levies could be introduced on a price gradient basis reflecting demand and market pricing principles. Clearly, the wider the area of application, the more car journeys will be affected – including a significant proportion of what is normally counted as "through" traffic. Taking inner London as an example, levies applied there could influence the travel choice of many times more vehicles than a more tightly drawn CC scheme allowing the through traffic to drive around a ring road. As with the CC scheme in Central London, overall traffic and congestion levels within the area subjected to levies could be further influenced by adjustments to network capacity.

Next Steps

Given the reduced spending on infrastructure planned as part of the austerity measures, local authorities in the UK facing increasingly serious congestion are encouraged to consider this new approach to parking pricing. Pilot studies need to be carried out to test the impacts and costs of introducing these more comprehensive levies along the lines of the illustration set out above.

Ideally, these pilots need to be undertaken in a number of free standing towns and cities in the regions as well as parts of London. The London studies should include one for the inner London area and one or more strategic outer London town centres. These pilots should demonstrate the broad effects of introducing these levies on travel patterns, the local economies, the social impacts and the net revenue yield. The studies should also address the potential barriers to implementation and the legislative requirements for delivering a more comprehensive parking levy system. In summary the focus of future work either within these pilot studies or as path-finding policy analysis should be;

· To carry out an audit of the relevant legislation in order to examine how existing powers may best be used to support the wider application of parking levies.

· To identify gaps or improvements in the relevant legislation that would need to be addressed to support the wider application. These may include enabling local authorities to proceed without recourse to central government, the means of levying private shoppers’ parking, the means of passing on levies to the car user rather than the car park owner, the exemptions from payment of levies and the wider ability of local authorities to raise and spend money on local transport improvements.

· To carry out scoping studies and impact assessments

The Green Light Group is pleased to release this paper and now seeks to engage in discussion with both central government and local authorities and wider stakeholders in order to move the initiative forward.

February 2011