Oliver Heald (North East Hertfordshire)
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Portas Review, if he will ask local authorities to review their parking strategies.
Mr Grant Shapps
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Bob Neill) to the hon. Member for Westminster North of 7 December, Column 342 - 343 W (below).
The Government expects to respond to the Portas Review in the Spring.
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2012-01-10b.87869.h&s=Heald#g87869.q0
Karen Buck (Westminster North, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
(1) what discussions officials from his Department have had with Westminster city council on its proposal to generate additional income from parking charges at evenings and weekends; and if he will make a statement;
(2) what his policy is in respect of the generation of income by local authorities from parking charges.
Bob Neill (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Communities and Local Government; Bromley and Chislehurst, Conservative)
holding answer28 November 2011
Officials have not held specific discussions with Westminster city council on this issue.
Every bit of the public sector needs to do its bit to help tackle the budget deficit inherited from the last Administration. But Ministers have been quite clear that we view increasing charges on local residents as an inappropriate way of making sensible savings. Instead, councils should be saving money through better procurement, cutting fraud, more joint working and using transparency to drive out waste. This stance on charging is different from the last Administration, when DCLG Ministers actively encouraged councils to increase parking charges (for example, as alluded to in the speech to the Local Government Association of2 July 2008).
EWHC 13 (Admin).
Councils have a key role in promoting economic development, supporting local economic growth and local jobs. Making sure that car parking charges are reasonable is an important and practical way in which councils can help support their local high streets. In this context, I am concerned about the effect of higher parking charges on the broader economy of London and the West End, particularly its impact on employees, small firms and sole traders.
This Government have taken steps to support local high streets. Our plans for the local retention of business rates will mean that councils have a direct financial incentive in supporting business and retail growth in town centres. This is in contrast to the local government system we have inherited, where councils have no real incentives to support local high streets and city centres.
My Department has also tackled flawed parking rules inherited from the last Administration. In January 2011, we amended national planning guidance to:
remove Whitehall restrictions which imposed maximum numbers of parking spaces in new residential developments;
change a policy which inhibited competition between council areas to one that said parking charges should not undermine the vitality of town centres;
introduce a policy that parking enforcement should be proportionate;
remove the policy that encouraged councils to set car parking charges to discourage the use of cars; and
increase support for electric car power-charging infrastructure in parking areas.
The draft National Planning Policy Framework follows through on these changes by removing restrictions which impose maximum numbers of parking spaces in new non-residential developments. This will relieve pressure on on-street parking and support local high streets.