Civil
Parking Enforcement in Powys – Costs, Fines and Income
(see the following blog for details of your Councillor Candidate’s Responses to our
Campaign)
This
last month or so has been frenetic. In
late April we submitted two questions to Powys County Council, trying to find
out :
1. How much it cost Powys County Council to
adopt Civil Parking Enforcement?
and
2. What were the costs and income for its first
year of operation?
(these
are very much shortened versions of our Freedom of Information requests)
We were
promised that the “due date for responding to this request
for information is April 25,
2012”.
No answer was
received by 25th or 26th April but eventually, today 27th
at just past 5pm, and after much prevarication, we received a response to the second of our
two questions. We have been promised
the answer to our first question this coming Monday, 30th April.
HOWEVER
interestingly it has just come to our notice that a report has been distributed
to County Councillors on 25th April which effectively duplicates
many of our questions and does throw some light on elements of the income Powys
have derived from parking fines over the last year. There seem to be some very interesting
anomalies too!
We
shall come back to the responses Powys have given us to our question in a
moment, but as some of the statistics provided to Councillors are broken down
by towns – here goes:
Civil Parking Enforcement
1st
April 2011 – 31st March 2012
Total number
of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) issued
County
Total 6,255
Hay-on-Wye
643
Brecon
1,989
Builth
Wells 374
Llandrindod
Wells 440
Crickhowell
232
Rhayader 107
Talgarth 10
Number
of off-street PCNs issued (editor - i.e. in car parks)
County
Total 2,356
Hay-on-Wye
210
Brecon 900
Builth
Wells 153
Llandrindod
Wells 109
Crickhowell 99
Rhayader 44
Talgarth n/a
Number
of on-street PCNs issued (i.e. street parking infringements)
County
Total 3,899
Hay-on-Wye
433
Brecon
998
Builth
Wells 221
Llandrindod
Wells 331
Crickhowell
133
Rhayader 63
Talgarth 10
Total
income generated for Powys County Council
County
Total £139,824
Hay-on-Wye
£22,505
Brecon
£66,430
Builth
Wells £13,090
Llandrindod
Wells £15,400
Crickhowell £8,120
Rhayader £3,745
Talgarth £350
(these
figures are apparently based on £35 per PCN !)
[Ed. This
makes a total of £114,240 which if the figures are accurate, means that the
seven towns generated 82% of the income generated for Powys and the remainder
of the county, generated only £25,584 or 18% of total income ! CAN THAT BE TRUE? ]
Interestingly,
based on the figures supplied, the income ratio per head generated for each
town listed is:
Hay-on-Wye
15
Brecon
7
Builth
Wells 5
Llandrindod
Wells 3
Crickhowell 3
Rhayader 2
Talgarth 0
Lastly
and also very interesting are the :
Civil
Enforcement Officer hours spent enforcing CPE
County
Total 20,000 hours *
*Interim
figure based on 9 officers and 42.5 hours per week
Hay-on-Wye
1,040 5%
Brecon
3,900 19.5%
Builth
Wells 780
4%
Llandrindod
Wells 676 3%
Crickhowell
1,300 6.5%
Rhayader 260 1%
Talgarth 260
1%
There
really is something strange about these figures provided to Councillors. The above timescales mean that 40% of time
spent by CEOs in the seven towns produced 82% of the income, whilst the
remaining 60% of time spent elsewhere in the county produced only 18% of the
income generated. (perhaps travel time
has not been included – but even so!)
The
document also provided some information regarding appeals but on first
appearance, the answers seem to contradict information previously supplied.
If you
can be bothered, an enlightening exercise is to divide the number of tickets
issued by the income received and the results just don’t seem to make sense –
that is unless Powys operate a Pay one, get one free system.
I’m
afraid that I for one, just don’t trust these figures!
Now, the answers provided to some of our
questions!
Costs :
1. Total costs for Pay and Display Car Parks £756,800
2 - 4. Total cost of Civil Parking Enforcement 2
£326,248
2 Civil enforcement costs include relevant staff overheads, equipment,
internal and external administration.
The cost of “on-street” enforcement is not separately identifiable.
Income :
5. Total number and value of off-street PCNs
issued :
County
Total 2,356 £50,845
(Ed. £21.58 each ?)
6. Total number and value of on-street PCN’s
issued :
County
Total 3,899 £103,753 (Ed. £26.61 each ?)
7. Total number and value of PCN’s paid
within 14 days :
County Total 4,3803 £121,935 (Ed. £27.84 each ?)
3 based on payments made at reduced rates. Additional payments may be received within 14
days or underpayments made for higher rate offences. Previous calculations have indicated a total
of 4,468.
8. Total number and value of PCNs paid after
14 days
County
Total 4354 £23,260 (Ed. £53.47 each)
4 based on payment made at full rate.
Additional payments may may be recievd for alternative amounts.
9. Total number and value of PCNs appealed
and payment outstanding :
County Total Not known Value
- not calculated
10. Total number and value of appeals :
County
Total 7 Value - not
calculated
11. Total number and value of successful
appeals :
County
Total 3 Value – not
calculated
12. Total number and value of appeals awaiting
decision :
County
Total 3 Value – not
calculated
13. Total income received from Wales Penalty
Processing Partnership (WPPP) :
Total £139,824 Income not yet received – not calculated
14. Total Revenue from Pay and Display Car
Parks :
Total £959,498
Hay-on-Wye
£141,286 15%
Brecon
£242,898 25%
Builth
Wells £44,080 4.5%
Llandrindod
Wells £21,530 2%
Crickhowell £63,388 6.5%
Rhayader £14,983 1.5%
(Ed.
The above 5 towns provided 54.5% of Powys’ total income from pay and Display Car parks.)
15. Total Revenue from Car Park Parking Permits :
County
Total £135,226
Well, there you are, those are the facts and figures as
provided by Powys
County Council. We’ve not had the time to look at the figures
properly yet, but shall do so. In the
meanwhile, why not let us know what you think!
