Agenda item

Report of the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport (CET/22/66), attached.

The Report seeks approval of the submission of an application to the DfT to acquire powers to enforce Moving Traffic Offences, approval of a policy for Parking Management in Communities (including Pay & Display) and a proposed policy for sponsorship and advertising on highway assets and associated infrastructure.

There are three Impact Assessments relating to:

1.    Moving Traffic Enforcement

2.    New Parking Management Pay and Display Schemes

3.    Advertising on the Highway

attached for the attention of Members at this meeting. They are also published on the website at https://www.devon.gov.uk/impact/published/

RESOLVED

(a) that in relation to Moving Traffic Offences (MTOs)

(i) the submission of an application to the DfT to acquire powers to enforce MTOs under Part 6 of The Traffic Management Act 2004 in Tranche 3 of applications expected to be July 2023 be approved; and

(ii) that the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Highway Management be given delegated authority to approve future enforcement sites.

(b) in relation to Pay and Display

(i) that the proposed policy for Parking Management in Communities

(including Pay & Display) as laid out in Appendix D, be approved;

(ii) that the advertising of schemes in the communities as laid out in

Appendix E also be approved; and

(iii) that the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport in

consultation with the Cabinet Member for Highway Management be

given delegated authority to make minor amendments to policy and

schemes where appropriate.

(c) regarding advertising on the highway

(i) that the proposed policy for sponsorship and advertising on highway

assets and associated infrastructure be approved; and

(ii) that the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport in

consultation with the Cabinet Member for Highway Management be

given delegated authority to make minor amendments to the policy

where appropriate.

(Councillors Biederman, Brazil, Dewhirst and Whitton attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item).

The Cabinet considered the Report of the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport (CET/22/66), circulated prior to the meeting in accordance with regulation 7(4) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.

The Report sought approval of the submission of an application to the DfT to acquire powers to enforce Moving Traffic Offences, approval of a policy for Parking Management in Communities (including Pay & Display) and a proposed policy for sponsorship and advertising on highway assets and associated infrastructure.

Regarding Moving Traffic Offences, following the introduction of new legislation, the list of restrictions available for local authorities to enforce using MTO powers was shown in Appendix A. The intention was to apply for inclusion in tranche 3, expected to be open for applications in July 2023 with powers likely to be confirmed by the end of 2023. The application would include the whole of Devon which was already designated as a civil enforcement area for parking conventions.

It was important that any proposed sites were underpinned by an accurate Traffic Regulation Order and that appropriate signs and markings were in place. Any equipment proposed for enforcement must be approved by the Vehicle Certification Agency. It was proposed to use DCC’s existing CCTV cameras to capture contraventions. Contraventions would be identified by a mixture of manual observations from recordings at proposed locations and artificial intelligence using externally sourced software.

Whilst an order covering the whole of Devon already designated as a civil enforcement area for parking conventions would be applied for, it was proposed to include a limited number of sites for the initial enforcement activity which had been identified based on concerns over safety, congestion, active travel priority or public transport reliability, as below.

1.            Heavitree Fore Street, Exeter – Bus Lane

2.            Exe Bridges, Exeter – Bus Lane

3.            Exe Bridges, Exeter – Yellow Box Junction

4.            Penn Inn, Roundabout Newton Abbot – Yellow Box Junction

5.            Topsham Road / Burnthouse Lane, Exeter – Bus Lane

6.            The Square (near Boutport Street) Barnstaple – Bus Lane.

A Spotlight Review into Moving Traffic Offences had been undertaken by the Corporate Infrastructure and Regulatory Services Scrutiny Committee in July 2022. The Report recommended that the Authority applied for powers. Cabinet further noted the proposal to report to Scrutiny 12 months after the start of enforcement.

In relation to Pay and Display, it was proposed that a Policy be adopted to proactively review parking management in communities and introduce pay & display where there was a traffic management need. The Policy had been developed by the highways team in liaison with the Economy team and was included in Appendix D. The Policy identified 8 communities as priorities for review, a list of which was available in Appendix E and it was proposed that schemes were developed and advertised for those communities later this year.

The third proposal related to advertising on the highway and it was proposed to procure a contractor to manage sponsorship and advertising on highway assets on behalf of the Authority. This model of business would provide the contractor with motivation to realise the full commercial value of assets and seek sponsors. A basic desktop analysis suggested the Council had between 100-120 roundabouts which would be suitable for sponsorship and in the region of 79,000 lighting columns, however, it was likely that only a proportion of lighting stock would be appropriate or commercially attractive for sponsorship.

It was proposed that any standards relating to sponsorship would utilise rules and guidelines laid out by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) and uphold the rules laid out in the British Codes of Advertising and Sales Promotion and the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity.

Appendix F to the Report would act as the policy position to guide on the principles around sign dimension, content, environmental and safety considerations being required.

The Cabinet Member highlighted that it was not the intention to cover the County with obtrusive signage but merely formalise and bring a greater level of consistency to how the current offer was managed and where arrangements existed with current sponsors, or parish councils they could continue, if they wished.

The Report outlined the consultations and processes undertaken. In relation to the latter two matters, these had been discussed with Scrutiny Commissioning Liaison Members.

Section 5 of the Report highlighted in full how the proposals aligned with the aims and objectives of the Council’s Strategic Plan and Section 6 outlined the financial considerations of each policy and proposal.

There were three Impact Assessments attached for the attention of Members at the meeting which could be found at https://www.devon.gov.uk/impact/published/.

The matter having been debated and the options and/or alternatives and other relevant factors (e.g. financial, sustainability (including carbon impact), risk management, equality and legal considerations and Public Health impact) set out in the Director’s Report and/or referred to above having been considered:

it was MOVED by Councillor Hughes, SECONDED by Councillor Hart, and

RESOLVED

(a) that in relation to Moving Traffic Offences (MTOs)

(i)            the submission of an application to the DfT to acquire powers to enforce MTOs under Part 6 of The Traffic Management Act 2004 in Tranche 3 of applications expected to be July 2023 be approved; and

(ii)          that the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Highway Management be given delegated authority to approve future enforcement sites.

(b) in relation to Pay and Display

(i)            that the proposed policy for Parking Management in Communities (including Pay & Display) as laid out in Appendix D, be approved;

(ii)          that the advertising of schemes in the communities as laid out in Appendix E also be approved; and

(iii)         that the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Highway Management be given delegated authority to make minor amendments to policy and schemes where appropriate.

(c) regarding advertising on the highway

(i)            that the proposed policy for sponsorship and advertising on highway assets and associated infrastructure be approved; and

(ii)          that the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Highway Management be given delegated authority to make minor amendments to the policy where appropriate.

(NB: The Impact Assessments referred to above may be viewed alongside Minutes of this meeting and may also be available on the Impact Assessment Webpages).