How They Do Residents Parking in Bath

Stephen Perry and Adrian Longstaffe

21st April 2009

Introduction

The city of Bath has had a number of residents parking zones in operation for up to 10 years and clearly there is much experience on which we can capitalise. Stephen and Adrian have spent several hours talking to two key people concerned with residents parking in Bath. They are:

Ms Miley has more than 10 years experience of implementing and managing RPZ's in different parts of the country and clearly knows her subject from top to bottom -- she is extremely helpful and her advice will be very useful in designing RPZ's here in Bristol.

Mrs Derry-Evans -- is involved on the consumer side of residents parking in Bath and, having been involved since implementation, is also experienced at what works and what doesn't.

We were extremely impressed by the way in which these schemes had been designed, implemented and run -- there is a lot of experience very nearly on our doorstep which we would be foolish not to use.

Here is a summary of the key points that we found (see below for details)

Questions

What made an RPZ in Bath necessary?

As in Bristol, residents in inner suburbs of Bath suffered from increasing amounts of commuter and visitor parking finding it difficult or impossible to park anywhere near their homes. Petitions were submitted to the Council which then took action.

Was there a "no" campaign in Bath?

Apparently not -- both of our interviewees expressed great surprise at the depth of feeling and publicity generated in Bristol by the "no" campaign. In spite of understandable reservations expressed prior to the introduction of these schemes, the majority of residents in the affected areas appear to be satisfied and by and large, the schemes work well with few complaints. In fact, the residents associations closest to the centre of Bath are currently asking for an extension of the hours of operation. The only problems appear to have been due to over issue of permits in a very few areas (see below).

How were the current residents parking zones implemented?

The Council commissioned a comprehensive survey of each zone -- a team of people went in from 5 AM to 10 PM dividing the area into "beats" so that each beat could be surveyed on a one hourly or half hourly basis -- recording vehicles in and vehicles out right across this time (cost approximately 40 K).

Residents "workshops" were then recruited from public meetings, given the statistical details and facilitated in developing workable plans for that particular area.

Once agreed, street markings, notices and any necessary double yellows went in quickly at the same time -- usually within a week.

Key features of residents parking in Bath

Permits

Zone How Many? Cost
Central Zone 1 Per Household £85 Per Annum
Zones 1-14 2 Per Household £90 Per Annum (1st Permit), £130 Per Annum (2nd Permit).
Keynsham 2 Per Household £25 Per Annum ( 1st Permit), £15 Per Annum ( 2nd Permit).

Hours of operation

8 AM to 6 PM across all zones currently -- inner suburbs are currently applying to extend this into the evening.

Visitors permits

These are electronic, secure and permit great flexibility. They allow for 100 permits at £1 each. However this can be purchased on an hourly basis by telephoning a number to activate and then deactivate the permit -- this can also be done online. This allows each visitor's pass effectively 1000 hours which can be used flexibly.

Tradesmen/contractor permits

Any tradesmen (including cleaners provided they have headed notepaper) can register with the council for parking within residents parking zones. Again this is activated/deactivated by telephone and the company is invoiced monthly. Charges vary depending on the zone.

Illegal sale of visitors permits

They know it goes on but can't prove it -- this is why permits have been reduced from 200 per year to 100 per year -- the electronic permit makes this more difficult. They no longer allow unused visitor permits to be carried over to the following year.

Implementation of double yellow lines

1. Placed conservatively round difficult corners
2. The width restriction they work to is as follows:

Assuming a parking bay width of 1.8 m, there must be 2.75 m of road width available for emergency vehicles. This means that the minimum width to allow parking on both sides of a street is 6.35 m and for parking on one side is 4.55 m

Areas with no marked bays

A group of streets with restricted entry points (i.e. one or at most 2 ways in and out) does not need to have marked bays -- BANES was able to get specific dispensation from the Department of Transport for this (Dorothy Miley can advise).

Motorcycles

Currently free but residents are currently campaigning to have dedicated bays for motorcycles otherwise their use is inefficient in terms of numbers of cars per length of street.

Consultation with Businesses

Ms Miley said that it was important to identify and locate local businesses because this was the key to amount and location of the limited waiting bays -- she quoted one case where a pub made a successful bid to have more limited waiting bays adjacent to it.

Levels of complaint

The BANES Traffic Manager felt that the level of complaints was low and that acceptance was good. Initial complaints were due to a mismatch between numbers of permits and facilities and the council was flexible in terms of adjustments.

Disabled permits are free

Blue badge holders (including visitors) can park free in any RPZ.

Ongoing consultation

Bath and North East Somerset Council have a rolling programme of consultation to ensure that any necessary changes can be made to residents parking. The combined residents associations are currently approaching the council to increase the hours of operation for inner suburbs – clearly signs both of a residents parking scheme which works and a good relationship between residents and council.

Advice

Avoid too many permits per space!

Mrs Derry-Evans highlighted a few areas where too many permits had been issued for the number of parking places available. She recommended that representatives of Yes-to-RPZ walk the area with a council traffic engineer so that an accurate estimation of numbers of parking bays can be made as opposed to simply measuring the length of the road. We were left with the impression from Ms Miley that 1.5 permits per space would be a good starting point whereas Mrs Derry-Evans suggests a more conservative estimate with a later increase if spaces are unused.

Don't attempt to use pay-and-display!

Mrs Derry-Evans was also emphatic that the policy of having "limited waiting" bays as opposed to "pay and display" was vital -- on the following grounds:

Key points which really impressed us

1. Initial survey of each zone so that numbers of spaces could be calculated.

Absolutely key to determining the facts and figures on which numbers of permits per household and limited waiting spaces can be calculated.

2. Residents workshops to agree on ways of operation.

Residents take ownership of the implementation of the scheme and are less liable to complain or feel victim to Council imposition.

3. "Limited time" (usually 2 hours) free parking instead of pay-and-display.

This, see "Advice" above, was regarded as absolutely vital by the residents associations -- much less street furniture and a much lower cost of implementation as well as servicing, collection of cash, repairing etc.

4. Electronic visitor permits allowing use by the hour as well as by the day (1000 hours per year).

Again a stunning idea, much more secure and much more flexible.

5. Limited street marking with modest notices attached to pre-existing street furniture.

We saw this -- just very modest notices attached to walls, railings, lampposts or other existing signs -- really minimal impact on a beautiful area. Also special dispensation for narrower double yellows.

6. Zero marking of parking bays in groups of streets with restricted entry points.

They have 3 areas where there is a group of streets which only has one or at most two routes of access in and out. They had to get special dispensation from the Department of Transport for this but Ms Miley can advise -- again less impact on the neighbourhood and more flexibility of parking.

7. Ongoing consultation with residents and residents associations with adjustments as necessary.

As cities change and residents needs change, BANES is very responsive to changing needs and in respect of this, does regular surveys to see that the RPZ's are optimal.

8. Flexibility of design (limited waiting vs residents or dual use) to accommodate difficult areas.

Flexibility in terms of the designation of bays as residents only, limited waiting only or dual use depending on pressure (the residents association chairman advised against dual use as this tends to work against residents).

Conclusions

Home | How They Do it in Bath |