Civil Parking Enforcement Service Annual Report 2020-21
Contents
Foreword
In a year which saw the world needing to respond to the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic, the management of parking and traffic remained pivotal in supporting our communities and network.
Parking management enables authorities to balance the demand for on-street parking for businesses, residents, and visitors with the safe and efficient movement of traffic. Additionally, in these unprecedented times, there was a new responsive need to allow new activities and meet new needs from our communities.
This included supporting the delivery of testing and vaccination facilities both on and off street, also new active travel initiatives and support to health workers outlined by central government. There was opportunity for staff to be redeployed to support in key areas such as food deliveries and the distribution of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and building resilience in other highways response teams.
Not only did the team respond to these challenges but they also continued to develop ways of working including delivery of improvements to our own Health and Care Workers Permits following engagement with the adult social care team, their partners and the NHS trust. This meant more support for health and care workers in meeting the needs of their clients.
The team also undertook a review of policy relating to residents parking, taking into consideration both the needs of our communities and our responsibilities to contribute to reduced carbon by introducing a differential charge to encourage more sustainable vehicle choices where possible.
Thanks to the hard work of the Parking and Enforcement Team (and wider Traffic Management Team) and their ongoing commitment to continuous improvement and innovation, the service continues to develop and deliver.
Councillor
Stuart Hughes
Cabinet Member for Highway Management
About Devon
Devon is the third largest county in England with Devon County Council covering 2,534 square miles of the county (the remaining areas being within the unitary Authorities of Plymouth and Torbay). There are 8000 miles of highway within Devon; the biggest highway network of any authority in the country.
With major University’s in Exeter and Barnstaple now attracting students from around the world, and two national parks Dartmoor and Exmoor as well as England’s only natural World Heritage Site, the Jurassic Coast which is well known for its unique geology and geographical features, Devon attracts nearly six million visitors per year and there are twice as many tourism businesses in Devon than the national average.
Our deployment prioritises key urban centres and their aerial routes where free flow of traffic is essential. It also recognises the needs of communities where a high demand for turnover of on-street spaces plays a vital role in maintaining economic viability.
Effective traffic management on this network is reliant on the placing of various restrictions including those affecting speed and parking.
Management of parking is essential to provide safe and expeditious movement of traffic through the network, and within Devon. Limited waiting, pay and display, residents parking, and no waiting restrictions are used to manage parking stock with efforts focused in the 28 Devon market and coastal towns and the city of Exeter which are where most of our population resides.
The service uses customer feedback and enforcement information from previous years to improve our deployment on a countywide basis.
New beats are designed to ensure that larger communities requiring more frequent attendance are serviced regularly, and grouped with several smaller communities which are serviced cyclically in line with their parking management needs.
Grouping communities together allowed for a more efficient spread of resource to facilitate fewer CEO attendances whilst retaining a high level of service to all communities with parking management needs.
We deliver our service in line with the objectives of the Traffic Management Act 2004.
Dealing with the pandemic
Our response to the challenge presented by COVID-19
The government announced the first lockdown would be implemented from 23 March and the pandemic’s potential impact on society began to emerge. Many of us thought that working from home would be a temporary intervention, a new experience and way of working, we did not appreciate that it would become the ‘new norm’ until much later in
the year.
Instructions to “stay at home” meant keeping safe but didn’t mean that all parking enforcement ceased. It did require a rethink on identifying what the priorities for the team would be, and would the full team be required if on-street parking enforcement was suspended.
Fortunately, most staff already had laptop computers so working from home was not too difficult to implement. We undertook individual risk assessments to establish those at risk due to health reasons, those who were shielding others within their household or they have responsibility for.
The Council strictly adhered to guidance notes being issued via the British Parking Association(BPA) communications and made changes to processing appeals to align with new national guidance. Debt recovery was suspended until September 2020 when revised guidance was issued by the BPA and CIVEA (the association that debt recovery firms are enrolled with), based on information issued by the Government.
We used our corporate “News Centre” on our website and social media channels to keep the public informed of changes to our services and parking measures put in place to aid key workers, NHS staff and residents now working from home rather than commuting to a workplace, to stay safe and avoid PCN’s.
With more people working from home and a need to keep staff safe, the decision was taken to deploy our resources to maintain accessibility of key routes, and on yellow line enforcement to ensure emergency services and food delivery services could access all roads safely.
PCN issue numbers dropped by over 60% at the beginning of the lockdown period and remained low until June/July as the lockdown restrictions were lifted, and more freedom of movement was allowed.
Redeployment of staff
Our back office
The team worked with our back office system and permit provider, Chipside, to further enhance our digital permit offering. They were quickly able to add temporary resident permits which we could issue to residents or members of public forced by the lockdown to stay at home either to work, due to being in a high-risk group, or the need to remain in isolation due to exposure to the virus.
The implementation of flexible e-permits has also allowed the council to move forward our plans to move away from paper permits and go digital and demonstrate the benefits that a digitized service would bring for our residents.
The appeals team took the opportunity to audit data and revisit our policies to ensure that it met current circumstances or made allowances for it and would be fit for purpose post pandemic in the ‘new normal’ parking world.
We afforded extra discretion in consideration of appeals coming in and made concessions to accept fines at the discounted amounts long after the 14 day period had expired for anyone impacted by Covid-19 directly or financial fallout arising from changes in personal circumstances, exceeding the requirements
of the BPA.
The Covid-19 lockdowns had a wide range of impacts across the highways network. With businesses closed and only supermarkets and other essential stores open, it was necessary to review the deployment of our enforcement officers.
We deployed a small number of officers at essential sites such as supermarkets and hospitals, to ensure that traffic was moving and the most vulnerable were able to access essential services.
With our remaining officers, we asked if there were any volunteers to support other teams that were dealing with critical tasks.
Our officers were redeployed to various services, including our Network and Operations Control Center (which offers reactive support to highways issues such as severe weather events and managing live traffic incidents) and Adult Social Services.
All of our officers have an excellent knowledge of the local area, and as a service we have lots of vehicles to allow us to patrol the huge area of Devon. We are proud to say that a number of our officers volunteered to deliver essential food parcels to vulnerable people, using our vehicles to do so.
Honiton Road Test Centre
In May 2020, Devon County Council were approached by Public Health England for assistance in identifying suitable sites for a Covid testing centre to serve the Devon area. A number of requirements were outlined in terms of size, access and ability to accommodate laboratory facilities.
A number of sites were identified and it quickly became clear that the drop off of Park & Ride usage made those sites a natural choice, the site at Honiton Road, Exeter offering the largest capacity and best links to the network.
The Traffic Management Team liaised with colleagues in Estates and Legal departments to draw up formal agreements, whilst working with Public Health England to agree logistics.
The site was mobilised within 48 hours of possession and continues to operate providing up to 1200 tests per day at its peak including onsite processing in mobile labs.
Supporting Health and Care Workers
During the pandemic, hospital sites came under pressure to provide more staff parking so that staff could use personal vehicles to travel to work rather than public transport. To support this additional demand, in summer 2020 a national parking exemption scheme was launched by central government allowing health and care workers free access to Local Authority car parks and on street parking areas. This scheme ran until late Summer 2021.
Additionally, Devon County Council staff had been instructed to work from home and the main County Hall campus is adjacent to the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, permission was given that NHS employees displaying an NHS pass could use the County Hall car park for free for the duration of their shifts.
Additional on-street parking passes were issued free of charge by Devon County Council to NHS workers to use nearby resident parking areas in advance of the official NHS covid passes that were later introduced in Summer 2020.
Additional temporary traffic orders were introduced In Newton Abbot to create a permit holders only zone in front of Newton Abbot hospital specifically for holders of the NHS covid parking pass. This community hospital was being used as a covid-free unit taking a greater number of patients from surrounding areas so that other hospitals could deal with covid patients.
Change of working practices – Keeping staff safe
Covid-19 brought with it many changes to working practices and the need to create new and updated risk assessments throughout DCC. A number of new measures were introduced:
- Due to social distancing and the limited numbers allowed in shared office space across our enforcement bases, staggered start and finish times, and set lunch times were introduced. A system to manage ad hoc returns to base was also set up to manage unforeseeable incidents such as equipment failure or debrief after an event, to ensure that if they needed to come back to base there was sufficient room to do so safely.
- Staff were required to always wear face coverings, in and out of base. Staff were also asked to complete regular Lateral Flow Tests.
- Furniture was re-arranged or taken out of the bases to allow individuals to sit apart from each other whilst working or on a break.
- Extra vehicles were procured so that staff could travel alone without sharing. This also allowed staff to have a clean space to sit and take a comfort break or lunch if no space in the base.
- Cleaning was required by everyone, and extra supplies were ordered to allow touch points, and surfaces to be cleaned after each use.
- All 1-2-1 meetings and team briefings were changed from face to face to Teams meetings to allow continuation of welfare, feedback, and information.
These risk assessments were required to not only ensure the safety of our staff but also to ensure we would not be transmitting the virus to the public. All risk assessments were adhered to and assessed on a regular basis.
Our officers typically work alone and time in base normally provided an important social function. Supervisors were aware that changes to working practices could lead to officers feeling isolated and maintained regular contact with officers during their shifts.
The updated risk assessments have been successful in allowing the service to continue though out the pandemic.
Traffic orders and public consultation
The Covid-19 pandemic required us to review our Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) process. Initially we felt the need to pause the TRO process which allowed us to consider some different measures around the TRO advertising process.
The closure of all public buildings, such as libraries and civic buildings, meant we weren’t able to put our proposal documents on deposit for public viewing. The lockdown also meant the public were less likely to see our on-street notices. Our solution was to improve our website so it enabled the public to easily find and review our detailed proposals, we also undertook a maildrop to residents in the immediate vicinity of every proposal. These measures were supported by continuing to publish a copy of the notice in the local paper and place copies on the streets affected. The standard advertising of 21 days was also increased to 35 days (5 weeks) to allow greater time for the public to see information on the proposals.
During the difficult period covered by this report we have continued our successful Highways and Traffic Orders Committees (HATOC) local waiting restriction programme. This programme collates the numerous minor improvement requests from our county councillors, local town and parish councillors, the public and officers from our Neighbourhood Highways Teams. These requests are for low cost amendments to existing restrictions or the introduction of a new restriction. However, these minor improvements often have great significance to the immediate local community and help to resolve very localised problems.
Financial impact of the pandemic
During the height of lockdowns in the UK there was a clear instruction to minimise travel and work from home if possible, and the retail and hospitality sectors were closed.
The effect of lockdown on travel was unprecedented. Private motor vehicle use reduced by up to 75%, bus use – excluding London – fell by up to 90%, and national rail patronage by 96% (DfT, 2020), and Devon was no different.
Whilst on street parking charges were not formally suspended, usage was minimal and enforcement activities were redirected to arterial routes and health care settings to ensure supply chains could function effectively and essential services could be provided.
The new ways of working and needs of the network had a significant financial impact on the service with pay and display income dropping by 82% at the height of lockdown rules (April / May 2020) and a reduced need to issue penalty charge notices.
Parking as a service
Our Parking Services Team comprises an enforcement team of civil enforcement officers deployed from 3 area bases, and a central team of appeals officers who consider challenges and appeals to Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) and oversee the management and issuing of on-street permits.
Our deployment prioritises key urban centres and their arterial routes where free flow of traffic is essential. It also recognises the needs of communities where a high demand for turnover of on-street spaces plays a vital role in maintaining economic viability.
The service recognises the challenges for the modern high street and sees the management of parking as a supporting complimentary service; ensuring parking is available to customers and turning over, whilst maintaining clear passage and access for deliveries and loading.
Our approach to parking enforcement is consistent, transparent, and informed by national best practice (including feedback received from the Traffic Penalty Tribunal).
The issue of a PCN is always a last resort with officers engaging with drivers whenever possible.
Our goal is to assist people to park; pick up; set down; load or unload conveniently and lawfully, to make our coastal communities, towns and city centres accessible to everyone.
We continue to use intelligence gathered through customer feedback, our ‘report it’ and request enforcement web forms, and social media feeds to regularly review beat patterns to further enhance our service. Ensuring we attend when most needed and can respond to changing local needs.
Enforcement can be requests here.
Customer service
Transparency and providing clear information to our customers is a key objective of our service.
Our enforcement and appeals policies are regularly reviewed and are available to all on our Open data page.
We continue to use customer feedback to shape and improve the information we provide and continue to expand communications by utilising corporate social media. This allows us to adapt as customers trend to communications on new platforms.
By using customer feedback, we also identified that visitors would benefit from a single source of information on parking whether that is our on-street facilities, or car parks offered in our sister District, Borough, and City Councils to help them plan their visit.
Parking and income remain an emotive topic for many. We hope by publicising what we do and how we use the public’s money in our annual parking reports we demonstrate our commitment to delivering an effective, responsible and sustainable service.
Our annual parking reports are archived here.
Cashless parking
The Council remains firmly committed to delivering the best value for money to our residents and visitors to the county. It is believed that cashless parking services provide an excellent option for our visitors and residents.
As reported in previous years the public’s appetite for cashless parking continues to grow. Whilst travel behaviours were obviously dramatically changed during the pandemic usage of cashless payment options for parking, and more widely over all areas of retail and hospitality, continued to grow.
The use of our cashless parking services continues to increase and saw an average of 12.5% growth over the previous the year. Making up 34.1% of the income from on-street parking charges on average across the year. A new high was established in January 2021 when almost half (43.8%) of all transactions were made via cashless payment.
As more and more customers are choosing to pay electronically over cash for all their purchases, we need to adapt and make sure we offer a convenient way to all of customers to buy their parking needs.
Where possible we seek to rationalise the numbers of pay and display machines in our existing schemes, with machines nearing the end of their useful lives are being retired from service and replaced by machines from low usage areas.
By recycling some of our existing stocks we are reducing our carbon impact, and reducing costs for cash collection and maintenance.
This has benefits for public realm (keeping the streetscape clear), and delivers a saving to the Council, in reduced operating costs, which in turn can be used to support other key transport initiatives across the County.
Where demand shows a need for a pay by cash option, we will continue to provide an option to pay by cash in that location.
The use of pay and display in new residential zones and in commercial areas will continue to form a key part of our traffic management considerations in consultation with residents and communities, but fewer physical payment machines will be deployed in future responding to increasing uptake of cashless options by customers.
| Month | 20/21 % | 19/20 % | 18/19 % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr | 20.9 | 18.6 | 14.3 |
| May | 26.9 | 20.0 | 15.6 |
| Jun | 24.1 | 19.0 | 13.9 |
| Jul | 24.7 | 19.3 | 13.2 |
| Aug | 34.0 | 17.6 | 12.8 |
| Sep | 34.3 | 19.8 | 14.4 |
| Oct | 36.5 | 23.6 | 17.3 |
| Nov | 40.1 | 26.2 | 19.8 |
| Dec | 39.4 | 23.9 | 16.1 |
| Jan | 43.8 | 26.9 | 19.5 |
| Feb | 43.4 | 26.6 | 19.6 |
| Mar | 42.0 | 24.2 | 22.0 |
| Average | 34.1 | 21.6 | 16.5 |
Parking and traffic regulation orders
Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) are legal agreements which allow us (or the police) to enforce regulations including speed limits, on-street parking
and one-way streets.
Most TROs are created with input from numerous stakeholders, including:
- elected members
- local communities
- police
- highways and parking officers
to address specific traffic congestion or quality of life issues.
The Traffic Orders, Policy and Programme team collate and prioritise requests for Community Traffic Management Plans, and then work with elected members and other local stakeholders to design proposals which will then be put out to public consultation.
How TROs are created
There is a statutory procedure for creating a TRO. The introduction or removal of a traffic order can be a lengthy and expensive process.
Design and consultation
We create a proposed design for the TRO and then consult on this with local councillors and parish councils, the emergency services and other institutions such as The Freight Transport Association, The Road Haulage Association and local public transport operators.
Residents, traders and community groups who are likely to be affected are consulted where appropriate. Following an initial consultation with the main interested parties the proposal may be amended before being advertised.
Advertising the TRO
The notice of intention is published in a local newspaper and put up on street furniture in the vicinity of the proposals. The notice has details of the proposals and contact details to enable comments to be submitted.
Where appropriate we may also deliver notices to premises most likely to be affected the proposals.
The length of the consultation period is at least 21 days from the start date on the notice and the proposal can be viewed online and at a nominated council office. Objections and comments must be made online or by writing to the address in the notice.
Any objections and contentious issues are considered by the area’s local Councillors or Committee who will review and consider those objections and comments and collectively decide whether to allow the scheme to proceed as advertised, make minor modifications to the scheme to resolve objections or abandon the proposal entirely.
As explained earlier in this report, the pandemic required us to review how we advertised our Orders. Due to the immediate closure of many of the nominated council offices and the requirement for many, if not all, residents to remain at home we had to assess the need for all our deposit documents to be online and the length of time they are available.
Making the order
The TRO is formally made and introduced and a notice of making published.
Information about Traffic Regulation Orders and proposed schemes is available on our website.
During the period covered by this report we have successfully implemented a number of new TROs.
Our regular ‘Local Waiting Restriction Programme’ includes a large number of requests from our County Councillors, local town and parish councillors, the public and officers from our Neighbourhood Highways Teams. These requests include locations that, due to the lack of resources, could not be processed through the TRO process on their own. Often the request is for a low-key amendment/correction to an existing restriction or the small-scale introduction/removal of a restriction. However, these minor improvements often have great significance to the immediate local community and help to resolve very localised problems.
Due to the number of locations contained in these TROs the areas covered are grouped within the boundaries of our eight Highways and Traffic Orders Committees (HATOC). Therefore during 2020/2021 we have undertaken eight extensive TROs as part of this ongoing programme.
We also have a programme of regular TROs to implement residential disabled bays for blue badge holders. Due to the number of requests we receive these TROs are usually processed four times a year.
We completed the TROs which enabled the introduction of Devon County Council’s first publicly available on-street electric vehicle charging points. This project will aim to bring 150 on-street charging points across Exeter.
During 2020/2021 we also completed a number of standalone TROs for the following schemes:
- Experimental TRO for Powderham vehicle prohibition – this was a crucial part of the scheme creating a low traffic road which addressed local issues. The aim was to help keep pedestrians and cyclists using the Exe Estuary Trail safe, whilst not precluding access for residents, access to the local church and the yacht club.
- Speed limit orders for the new Sherford community.
- Individual TROs for developments including Exeter Bus Station, Honiton Inn, Project Sofia, Quintana Gate in Exeter and Culm Lea in Cullompton.
- A Height restriction in Summer Lane, Exeter.
- Horseguards, Exeter residents parking scheme.
- Haldon Forest Clearway.
- Forde Close, Newton Abbot residents parking scheme.
Active travel
Covid brought many difficulties but also provided opportunities. The Government, via the Department for Transport (DfT) Emergency Active Travel Fund, awarded Devon County Council almost £1.3 million to provide safer routes for pedestrians and cyclists.
Local Town and Parish Councils submitted over 100 responses to an appeal from Devon County Council for potential schemes. These were logged and assessed against the DfT criteria. A successful scheme had to deliver pedestrian/cycle improvements, or provide an alternative to bus journeys, or facilitate people’s return to work. It had to be able to be started within 4 weeks, be completed within 8 weeks, be 50% funded by the communities, be installed/maintained by the communities (where applicable) and be technically deliverable with support from the community. This was a considerable challenge given the tight timescales and constrained working environment. However, Devon County Council and the local councils successfully implemented a number of these schemes.
The schemes included a number of temporary “pop up” infrastructure projects including barriers to widen footways, cycle parking and pedestrianisation measures, and also permanent schemes such as new pedestrian crossings, Low Traffic Neighbourhood schemes, improvements to shared use footway/cycleways and new cycleways.
A number of these schemes required a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order which used the emergency temporary Covid-19 powers introduced by The Traffic Orders Procedure (Coronavirus) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2020.
Another area of active travel investment was the introduction of new School Streets. A School Street is where a road outside a school closes to motor vehicles at school drop off and pick up times. This makes the space more inviting and safer for children and parents/carers who are walking, cycling or on scooters.
The aim is to improve road safety giving families a safer space and to maintain social distancing that may be needed at certain times due to Covid-19. This increases the likelihood that children will walk or cycle to school instead of by car meaning fewer car trips that will help to improve air quality, encourage more exercise, reducing congestion and road traffic collisions.
School streets work by temporarily closing roads adjacent to schools for between 30 and 45 minutes making a pedestrian and cycle only zone around school start and finish times. The road is legally closed with a TRO and removable bollards fitted in the road. There will be signs informing of the closure times.
Innovations and new developments
Residents parking policy
The Traffic Management Team were asked to undertake a review of residents parking policy to address concerns from Members and communities, along with the need to address climate issues. A revised Policy was presented to the December 2020 Cabinet meeting here.
The Residents’ Parking Policy had been developed in liaison with the Exeter HATOC Residents’ Parking Policy Working Group comprising both elected members and officers. The group had set out to consider what aspects of Exeter’s residents parking strategy, policy, design and ‘rules’ were and were not working for residents, businesses and commuters. The aim was to improve the system for residents, businesses and commuters whilst continuing to support the Council’s work to reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality and reduce the County’s impact on climate change. During those discussions officers and Members developed terms of reference, benchmarked other authorities and reviewed with external agencies including Exeter University. The policy for approval had been developed following the output from these meetings.
The Residents’ Parking Policy intended to provide the best balance between the needs of residents whilst contributing to the management of congestion and air quality.
The key proposed changes were:
- a differential charge be adopted to discourage multiple car ownership and encourage uptake of EV and lower emission vehicles
- that virtual permit technology be invested in, to allow robust enforcement and to address issues caused by cancelled or altered permits being displayed in vehicles;
- that rules relating to new developments / redevelopments be clarified
- that schemes be designed with an exemption for Co Cars (and other recognised car clubs) to encourage uptake of these services and reduced reliance on private car ownership; and
- that schemes be designed with consideration to schools and provide for essential vehicles where these cannot be accommodated within the school site.
Care and health worker permit update
In December 2019 the Council started a pilot of a Care and Health Worker permit scheme. It allows those care workers, enablers, medical professionals, and social workers who undertake their duties at their client or patients’ homes to park using resident parking, limited waiting or pay and display spaces for the duration of their scheduled appointment. In the absence of any available parking spaces, the permit allows the holder an exemption to use a yellow line restriction for up to an hour. The same rules apply as those issued to Blue Badge holders, but instead of 3 hours parking only 1 would be granted under the scheme.
The scheme saw a massive increase in applications from March 2020 from across numerous aspects of the care and social care sector. The team prioritised resources to turn around applications for permits within 24 hours of receipt and get clocks dispatched by first class post, NHS Couriers or hand delivered to offices to be used by staff.
To assist with the extra workload on those providers and for extra measures in personal safety arising from guidance being issued the exemption for use on yellow lines was increased from 1 hour to 2 hours during the pandemic.
In September 2020 account managers were consulted about the effectiveness of the scheme and online management of the e-permits and time clocks, and any changes that should be considered which they felt would improve the benefits to the users.
The overwhelming majority who replied supported the making of the scheme a permanent one. It was also noted that many felt that the 1 hour allowed on yellow lines was insufficient and there was some confusion over how long they could park in parking spaces. They asked if it could be simplified.
Based on feedback from current users, it was proposed that the current scheme was retained and became permanent, details of the scheme can be seen in care worker permits here.
It was also proposed that the scheme:
be extended to allow up to 3 hours parking on “no waiting” restrictions (increasing from 1 hour previously permitted)
- the use of a permit be simplified and parking limited to maximum of 3 hours from the start time of the parking period set by the user as indicated on the time clock for all the current exempted restriction types namely, limited waiting, residents parking, pay & display and yellow lines (so long as there was no restriction on “loading”) when undertaking a visit to a client,
- that replacement timeclocks be issued at time of renewal of an improved quality (timeclock similar to the blue badge issued to those with mobility or hidden disabilities) and the scheme continued to be offered without charge to users, except for replacement permits
The Care and Health Workers’ Parking Exemption Scheme was recommended to be made permanent following a successful 12-month pilot scheme. The year’s trial was an enhanced exemption permit scheme for care and health workers and social care staff to widen it to include allowing the use of yellow line restrictions when no other parking options were readily available.
Nearly 10,000 permits had been made available to service providers around the County and the scheme had been well received by social service teams, the NHS, charities and private company providers, and proved an extremely well-timed initiative as the Covid crises began to emerge across the Country in the Spring.
The scheme continues to be well received and is seen as a contributing factor in retaining and attracting fresh staff into the social care profession.
Lone worker device
Following working groups with enforcement officers and trade unions, it was clear that there was a need to improve our lone working procedures.
We went into the market to seek something that was easy to use and would allow our officers a peace of mind that there is always support when needed.
In 2020, we deployed Sitex Orbis Protect across our entire operation. Officers use the Amber alert feature to check in intermittently throughout the day, as well as a red alert feature that allows our officers to immediately open a phone line through to a 24/7 escalation team that will listen in to the conversation and contact the police directly if necessary.
Electric vehicles
We are proud to say that we are doing as much as we can to promote sustainable travel. Devon County Council has declared a climate emergency and has committed to facilitating the reduction of Devon’s carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050 at the latest.
As a service, we are doing our part by ensuring that we utilise sustainable travel as much as possible. We currently operate 3 fully electric vehicles and are looking to expand this. We ensure that electric vehicles are always used for the longest journeys and this year 29.96% of our miles were electric.
We have also invested in electric bicycles to allow some of the shorter journeys normally undertaken on foot to be completed quickly, this may include a reactive visit to a problem location in the city centre or nearby residents parking area.
Total miles:68,958
Green miles:20,666
Recruitment to supervisor posts
In order to improve support to our growing team of enforcement officers, in 19/20 a business case was developed to increase the number of supervisors.
In December following a competitive process, we were able to appoint two of our civil enforcement officers to new supervisor posts.
These two supervisors join our existing establishment of three supervisors and will now provide support to our team across our expanded operating hours of 6:00am to 10:00pm.
Enforcement statistics
Parking statistics
- Volume of on-street parking spaces 26780
- Volume of off-street parking spaces 1584
Penalties issued
- Total numbers of PCN’s issued 45560
- Number of PCN’s at high level 24192
- Number of PCN’s at low level 21368
- Number of Reg 9 PCN’s issued 45330
- Number of Reg 10 PCN’s issued 230
- Number of PCN’s issued on-street 45221
- Number of PCN’s issued off-street 109
Penalties paid
- Number of PCN’s paid 34388
- Number Paid at Discount rate 29296
- Number of PCN’s before Charge Certificate (within 56 days) 4387
- Number Paid after Charge Certificate served 705
- Number of Charge Certificates registered 5099
- Number of warrants of execution issued 3787
- Number of PCN’s cancelled 3787
- Number of PCN’s written off 1634
Penalties challenged
- Number of PCN’s resulting in Informal Challenge 8622
- Number of PCN’s cancelled as a result of informal challenge 3469
- Number of informal challenges rejected 4168
- Number of PCN’s resulting in a Formal Representation 1801
- Number of Formal Representations which resulted in the cancellation of the PCN 1244
- Number of Formal Representations which resulted in a Notice of Rejection 635
- Number of PCN’s written off for other reasons (e.g. CEO error, DVLA untraceable) 1634
- Number of vehicles immobilised 0
- Number of vehicles removed 0
Cases referred to the traffic penalty tribunal
- Total No. of Appeals 78
- No. of Appeals Allowed 24
- No. of Appeals Dismissed 39
- No. of Appeals Not Contested 15
- Awaiting Decision/Other 0
Top 20 locations for PCN’s to be issued
| 2020/2021 | Number issued |
|---|---|
| Southernhay East, Exeter | 817 |
| Musgrave Row, Exeter | 737 |
| Southernhay West, Exeter | 663 |
| Sidwell Street, Exeter | 509 |
| Fore Street, Kingsbridge | 456 |
| Queen Street, Newton Abbot | 445 |
| George Street, Exeter | 435 |
| North Street, Exeter | 422 |
| Red Lion Lane, Exeter | 349 |
| Queen Street, Exeter | 334 |
| High Street, Honiton | 308 |
| South Street, Exeter | 298 |
| Victoria Road, Exmouth | 279 |
| Bailey Street, Exeter | 278 |
| West Street, Exeter | 276 |
| Queens Drive (Eastern Spur), Exmouth | 275 |
| Fore Street, Exeter | 268 |
| Stover Court, Exeter | 256 |
| King William Street, Exeter | 242 |
| Fore Street, Topsham | 236 |
| Total | 45,560 |
| 2019/20 | Number issued |
|---|---|
| Southernhay East, Exeter | 2383 |
| Southernhay West, Exeter | 1607 |
| Sidwell Street, Exeter | 1305 |
| Musgrave Row, Exeter | 1223 |
| George Street, Exeter | 995 |
| Queen Street, Newton Abbot | 994 |
| South Street, Exeter | 745 |
| Queen Street, Exeter | 713 |
| Red Lion Lane, Exeter | 694 |
| North Street, Exeter | 611 |
| Dixs Field, Exeter | 610 |
| King William Street, Exeter | 571 |
| High Street, Honiton | 556 |
| Bailey Street, Exeter | 502 |
| West Street, Exeter | 451 |
| Fore Street, Exeter | 432 |
| Fore Street, Totnes | 410 |
| Fore Street, Kingsbridge | 409 |
| County Hall, Exeter (off-street) | 384 |
| Acland Road, Exeter | 380 |
| Total | 72,314 |
Top 10 contravention codes used
| 2020/21 | Quantity issued |
|---|---|
| 01 Parked in a restricted street | 11,937 |
| 30 Parked for Longer Than permitted | 10,497 |
| 12 Parked in a Residents place | 5,044 |
| 06 Parked without clear display of ticket | 2,438 |
| 25 Parked in a Loading Bay | 1,446 |
| 02 Loading in a restricted street | 892 |
| 40 Disabled Person’s Parking | 868 |
| 05 Parked after expiry of payment time | 758 |
| 22 Re-parked in same space | 200 |
| 16 Parked in a permit space | 151 |
| 2019/20 | Quantity issued |
|---|---|
| 01 Parked in a restricted street | 16,369 |
| 30 Parked for Longer Than permitted | 13,835 |
| 12 Parked in a Residents place | 9,095 |
| 06 Parked without clear display of ticket | 4,201 |
| 25 Parked in a Loading Bay | 2,723 |
| 05 Parked after expiry of payment time | 2,226 |
| 02 Loading in a restricted street | 1,821 |
| 19 Parked in a residents’ place | 1,459 |
| 40 Disabled Person’s Parking | 1,320 |
| 11 Parked without payment | 1,110 |
Financial summary
| 20/21 | 19/20 | 18/19 | 17/18 | 16/17 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCN’s issued | 45,560 | 72,314 | 70,115 | 75,308 | 68,947 |
| Income | £1,449,762 | £2,407,543 | £2,141.517 | £2,273,858 | £2,186,616 |
| Expenditure | £2,076,404 | £2,203,475 | £2,163,245 | £2,163,324 | £1,896,928 |
| Surplus/Deficit | -£626,642 | £204,068 | -£21,728 | £110,534 | £289,688 |
- Income collected from on-street parking charges:£3,451,574
- Income from penalty charge notices:£2,407,543
- Income from permits:£959,140
- Total = £6,818,257
| 20/21 | 19/20 | 18/19 | 17/18 | 16/17 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staffing | £1,616,658 | £1,806,602 | £1,731,763 | £1,782,062 | £1,515,374 |
| Accommodation | £34,574 | £30,177 | £25,021 | £9,645 | £12,954 |
| Fleet and travel | £139,592 | £101,062 | £103,104 | £77,339 | £55,881 |
| IT | £48,484 | £35,325 | £32,854 | £28,174 | £40,637 |
| Stationery | £36,427 | £48,119 | £138,253 | £142,201 | £95,152 |
| Debt recovery | £51,964 | £75,471 | £51,383 | £60,000 | £60,000 |
| Other | £148,705 | £106,718 | £80,867 | £63,903 | £116,930 |
| One off set up costs | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| Total cost | £2,076,404 | £2,203,475 | £2,163,245 | £2,163,324 | £1,896,928 |
| Total PCN income | £1,449,762 | £2,407,543 | £2,141,517 | £2,273,858 | £2,186,616 |
How do we spend our money?
The financial aspects of our service are managed through the ‘On-Street Parking Account’.
The On-Street Parking Account consists of two elements: 1) Income from ‘pay and display’ and other charges; 2) Surplus or deficit from on-street CPE (enforcement).
Income from the ‘On-Street Parking Account’ is used to fund the maintenance and development of parking management schemes and a limited number of other traffic and transport related services in accordance with the criteria for funding prescribed in Section 55 of the Road Traffic Regulations Act 1984, with surpluses used for:
- the provision or operation of public transport services
- the provisions of facilities for public transport services
- highway or road improvement projects
- environmental improvements
The full County Road Highway Maintenance Revenue Budget and On-street Parking Account can be viewed here.
| Scheme | Allocation £000’s |
|---|---|
| TCS: Bus, rail and community transport support | 2,411 |
| CPE: Road signs and road markings | 225 |
| Traffic management plans | 50 |
| Cyclic maintenance – environmental improvement | 2,200 |
| Traffic and parking IT systems | 30 |
| Safety camera partnership | 10 |
| Real time passenger information | 25 |
| Variable message signs | 10 |
| Road safety improvements – reactive | 50 |
| Park and ride business rates/site maintenance | 110 |
| Country parks | 219 |
| Total | 5,315 |