Minutes:
(Report by Kent Parking Manager)
(1) The Traffic Management Act 2004 (Part 6) Civil Enforcement of Parking took effect in April 2008, introducing new legislation and statutory requirements for all local authorities in England and Wales. Within Kent, the 12 District/Borough and City Councils were responsible for the practical application of parking policy within Agency Agreements negotiated between the County Council and the 12 District/Borough authorities. The report summarised the current situation with regard to the Agency Agreements and the management of parking and provided information as to the future arrangements between the 12 District/Borough Councils and Kent County Council.
(2) Currently, the 12 District/Borough Councils carried out the functions for on-street parking on behalf of the County Council under 12 individual Agency Agreements. However, under new legislation contained within the Traffic Management Act 2004, Kent County Council were now fully liable and responsible for meeting the requirements of the Traffic Management Act and may be audited by the Department for Transport with regard to meeting the necessary obligations under the new legislation.
(3) The current Agency Agreements were negotiated with each individual District /Borough Council between 1997 and 2001, dependent upon when each District/Borough Council took on powers under decriminalisation and were written under previous legislation relating to The Road Traffic Act 1984 and The Road Traffic Act 1991.
(4) As a result of the changes in legislation due to the advent of the Traffic Management Act 2004 and the associated Network Management Duties, the 12 current Agency Agreements were no longer legally fit for purpose and may leave both the County Council and the District/Borough authorities open to challenge by a Member of the Public, possible judicial review or potential intervention by the Department for Transport acting on behalf of the Secretary for State. It was therefore necessary to fully review the current Agency Agreements with all the 12 District/Borough authorities.
(5) Although all District/Borough Councils across Kent worked closely together with regard to best practice, there still remained a wide variation in the way parking was enforced across the County of Kent. This caused unnecessary confusion for the general public, residents and visitors to the County. Coupled with the new statutory responsibilities of Kent County Council brought about by the Traffic Management Act 2004, it was proposed that the current Agency Agreements were renegotiated with all 12 District/Borough Councils to allow the opportunity for consistent management procedures with regard to parking requirements in Kent and to ensure that Kent County Council met all statutory requirements necessitated by the Traffic Management Act 2004.
(6) It was proposed that the new Agency Agreements would operate alongside a Local Operating Agreement containing required policies, procedures and actions which would allow Kent County Council to meet its statutory requirements under the Traffic Management Act 2004 as well as allowing for new innovations to be put into place to assist in the efficient enforcement of on-street parking controls across the County.
(7) Any future changes to legislation would only require the rewriting of the Local Operating Agreement. This would prevent unnecessary delays in renegotiating the Agreements and no longer leave the County Council or any of the 12 District/Borough authorities in a position where they might be subject to a legal challenge whilst negotiations took place.
(8) Due to changes in legislation it was necessary to commence immediate renegotiations of the 12 Agency Agreements between the County Council and the District/Borough authorities. A report was submitted to the Leaders and Chief Executives of the 12 District/Borough authorities on 22 September 2008 requesting agreement to the full renegotiation of the current Agency Agreements and the introduction of a Local Operating Agreement within each District/Borough Council. The 12 District/Borough Leaders and Chief Executives instructed Kent County Council to commence negotiations with no further delay.
(9) The Board:-
(a) noted the content of the report; and
(b) recommended to the Cabinet Member that paragraph (8) above should commence as soon as possible.