Camden Annual Parking Report and Parking Policy Review

For the last five years (it was one of the initiatives we introduced in the previous administration) Camden Council has produced a rather readable report on all the main aspects of parking in the borough. The full document can be read here, and below we’ve extracted some highlights of interest:

• The number of parking tickets issued in Camden for parking (as opposed to bus lane or moving traffic offences) was 279,011 in 2010/11, down from 318,477 in 2009/10, and very significantly down on the peak amount of 434,646 in 2006/7.
• Camden parking income amounted to £36m in 2010/11, compared with £44.6m in 2007/8. Parking expenditure last year (ie paying for machines, parking attendants, issuing of residents and visitors permits etc) was £16m, compared with £27.5m in 2009/10.
• The parking surplus can by law only be spent on specific transport expenditure. Last year £9.6m was spent funding the Freedom Pass for older residents in Camden, and on the Taxicard scheme for the disabled. £7.2m was spent on highway and traffic improvements and highways maintenance. As can been seen, with parking income declining quite noticeably, there have been significant cuts needed in parking expenditure to preserve funding for the good things such as the Freedom Pass that the parking surplus funds.
• Of PCN appeals in Camden, 2,610 were refused in 2010, but 2,024 were allowed. Camden’s 44% of allowed appeals compared with 50% in London as a whole.
• Road safety – road casualty statistics show that KSI (killed and seriously wounded) in Camden were 111 in 2010, down from 141 the previous year and 123 in 2008. (2007 was just 105 but 2010’s figures are clearly below the average of the last ten years). Cyclist casualties however remain a real concern.

Parking Policy Review

Over the coming months, Camden is going to be reviewing many aspects of parking policy, consulting on various aspects with residents and local groups – we will of course inform everyone as this takes place. The key areas being looked at include:

• The structure of controlled parking zones, including days and hours of control (for example, could there be fewer zones, with fewer differences in hours of control, which can be confusing. On the other hand, the current zones are now understood – change would itself be confusing).
• Reviewing the emission based charging scheme for residents permits to see if the scheme has in fact had the intended effect of encouraging motorists to switch to smaller, less polluting vehicles.
• Business permits and business visitor vouchers.
• Yellow line restrictions, simplifying and standardising days and hours of control across Camden.
• Pay and Display, including the introduction of cashless parking.

One thing to note in the parking report is the permit to parking space ratio in each residential parking zone. The ratio in Swiss Cottage (zone CA-R) is 1.13, which is in fact the highest in Camden (ie there are more residents permits than there are actually spaces on the road surface). This compares with 1.12 in Belsize, 1.10 in Hampstead, 0.95 in Fortune Green/West Hampstead, 0.85 in Kilburn and just 0.54 in Redington/Frognal.