titlepage/contents pg 1-16 - British Parking Association

156 Chapter 10their revenue and costs on ayear-by-year basis. In addition,revenue should be generated tocover the opportunity costs of theasset value of car parks,buildings and equipment. Localauthority auditors are expressingconcern where such returns arenot being made. For instance anumber of authorities who areproviding free town centreparking to benefit retailingviability are being criticised fornot covering the costs ofmaintenance, supervision andrates. The auditors generally arenot saying that free parkingshould not be provided, but thatsuch provision must be fullyjustified by the wider benefits,and that those wider objectivesmust be specifically stated andunderstood.It is possible that some parts ofthe parking operation will showdeficits, such as the provision offree spaces in district shoppingcentres, or in villages and ruralareas. The business plan shouldclearly identify such issues andindicate where the cross subsidyarises. While policy requirementsmay override purely financialconsiderations in constructingthe business plan, the reason forsuch departures fromcommercial practice should bemade explicit and open to publicscrutiny.The business plan shouldrecognise the inter-relationshipbetween charging levels at onandoff-street spaces and thepotential transfer between thetwo. Raising the on-streetcharges or reducing on-streetspaces may increase the usageat off-street car parks. (Whetherthese are within local authoritymanagement control or whetherthey belong to a private operatormay be a consideration.) A wellconstructedplan should considerthe costs and revenues of bothon- and off-street provision as asingle service. With two-tierauthorities, however, this may bemore difficult as the ownershipand management of the twotypes of parking is dividedbetween the two authorities, withthe county council controlling theon-street spaces and the districtcouncil controlling the off-streetspaces.There may be the opportunity toconsider the rating valuations ofoff-street car parks, particularlyfor locations that generate lowrevenues. Some areas have astraight unit business rateirrespective of the financial valueof the site. Business rates maybe imposed on free car parkingfacilities since it is argued that itis the local authority’s decisionnot to charge irrespective of thevalue of the site.Some Councils view parking as a“cash cow”, generating surplusrevenues that can be used tosupport other council services.Some use these revenues solelyfor the purpose of keeping downthe rate of Council Tax. Suchpractice is particularlyquestionable (and unlawful inrelation to on-street spaces), ifthe local authority is at the sametime seeking financial help fromGovernment to fund its transportschemes. Greater transparencyand accountability is achieved, iftransport expenditure as far aspossible is met from transportrelated revenue. It is alsodesirable that people perceivetheir parking payments ascontributing directly to transportimprovements.Setting parking chargesParking charges, in combinationwith both the supply andregulation of parking spaces, arepotentially powerful tools, andmust be determined carefully.Decisions on charges should bebased on reliable estimates oftheir impacts. Local authoritiesshould retain detailedinformation on the usage withineach different band of car parkcharge, and use it to monitoryear by year the usage changesthat occur with changing chargerates. This information willindicate the variations in demandthat can be used to predictchanges through time.In practice, although the basicinformation generally exists, it isnot always analysed and