Councillor Morris introduced the report seeking approval for the strategy, charging and tariff structure to enable the Travel Hub to be open and fully operational within the required timeline.
Councillor Rydeheard queried whether there was a mechanism in place to the council to hold APCOA to account if anything does go wrong?
Councillor Morris confirmed that the car park would be operated using ANPR and barriers so the likelihood of incorrect fines being issued were minimal.
Councillor Birchmore queried whether any funds in terms of parking have to be ringfenced?
Councillor O’Brien confirmed that the council cannot use it for income generation. Any income is ringfenced around the wider service.
Neil Kissock, Director of Finance confirmed that we will have ringfence and statutory car park account that will have full transparency on how it has been collected and utilised.
Councillor Rydeheard queried whether there was an agreement in place for this particular car park that the payment of charges goes to the land owner and payment of fines go to the operator?
Councillor Morris confirmed that we pay a cost to APCOA each year and any income received will go towards paying that.
Decision(s)
Cabinet:
· Acknowledged APCOA Parking (UK) Limited (Company number 02572947) as the appointed third-party operator for the Travel Hub.
· Approved the operations strategy to facilitate the opening of the Travel Hub.
· Approved the introduction of parking charges and other charges in the new Prestwich Travel Hub and subsequent agreement to the implementation of a tariff structure as set out in Section 8 of this report.
Reasons for recommendation(s)
· To successfully facilitate the Travel Hub opening to the public (once APCOA is fully mobilised) now construction of the building is practically complete and is within the Council’s ownership.
· To enable the Travel Hub to have an operations strategy including a charging and parking tariff structure in place to generate income and cover APCOA’s operational costs for managing the facility. Opening the Travel Hub without implementing charging would mean that the Council would need to subsidise the facility by approximately £300,000 per annum.
Alternative options considered and rejected
· Not agreeing to the operations strategy but this would prevent the Travel Hub from opening.
· Not introducing a charges and parking tariff structure but this would prevent the Council from generating income to be able to cover the costs of a third-party operator managing the Travel Hub.
· Various parking tariff options have been considered and financially modelled, but the recommended option is in keeping (as much as possible) with the current parking tariffs within Bury Town Centre (noting the differences between the operation of a surface-level car park and a building) and overall, represents best value for money, including meeting the annual operating costs of APCOA.