A new vision for parking across Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire Council has unveiled its vision and ambition for parking across the county as part of a new Parking Strategy which sets out how the service will develop in coming years.
From embracing new technology to providing customers with greater choice and flexibility and from streamlining parking charges to promoting greater safety and reducing congestion, the document, which was agreed by Cabinet yesterday (Thursday 22 February), starts to align the different on and off-street parking arrangements from the previous legacy councils into one strategy which covers the whole county.
Key aims within the strategy include:
- A commitment to maintaining the upkeep of quality parking provision across the county
- Working to ensure the council’s parking operations are fully self-funded as is required legally
- Exploring ways to give people flexibility in parking options across the county
- Intelligent use of parking enforcement to ensure effective enforcement locally and county-wide
- A gradual transition to online/digital payments for all parking, reflecting trends in payment preferences which have accelerated in recent years, whilst maintaining cash payments for as long as economically possible in existing locations
- Ensuring residents and customers are kept fully informed of changes
The strategy has been informed by a previous review of current parking arrangements and starts to address inconsistencies across the county and identify where changes are needed to provide a better service for residents.
One of the first actions the council is taking is signing up to the National Parking Platform (NPP), a Department for Transport pilot scheme which aims to provide greater flexibility in paying for parking while providing value for money. The scheme will be piloted in council car parks in Wycombe and will allow customers to choose which supplier they purchase their parking time through.
Steven Broadbent, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Transport said: “Since becoming a unitary authority in 2020 we have been working hard to reduce inconsistencies across the county. We have looked at how we can make improvements, listening to what people have said and analysing trends and data to come up with this vision.
“We are keen to embrace new technologies and innovation whilst also making the most of our parking assets and enforcement powers to support our corporate priorities. Our parking offer must be right for the future and our communities and must be financially sustainable. This vision sets out how we plan to do that.”