In its first two months, a new report has revealed that a controversial parking charge scheme in the East Lothian town of North Berwick brought in £111,000.
The income from on and off street parking meters and residents permits does not include money from fines issued with 554 issued over the same period although 145 have since been cancelled.
A review of the impact of the introduction of the charges in the seaside town will be presented to councillors at a full meeting of the council next week.
And it reveals that nearly £59,000 has been spent repairing and replacing 30 meters which were vandalised, some more than once while the ‘extremely high’ level of complaints, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and representations from the community led to a ‘lessons learned’ review.
It says: “Within the first two months of implementation, the council had received a total of 79 FOI/EIR requests, 141 Stage 1 complaints and 65 Stage 2 complaints. This does not account for all the emails and phone calls received by the council with regard to the parking programme.
“In light of the high volume of engagement with the community, feedback regarding the complexity of some aspects of the scheme, issues identified with elements of signage, the need for further clarification and guidance, and a number of operational matters arising during implementation, the council identified an opportunity to reflect on the experience, strengthen its approach and therefore it was considered appropriate to undertake a formal lessons learned exercise.
“This involved East Lothian Council staff, contractors and suppliers and sought to identify opportunities to improve future scheme development and delivery.”
Councillors will be asked to approve an independent review of the parking management scheme which will be carried out by two universities and reported back on in June next year at a cost of around £66,500.
It says: “The review will be independently carried out by the University of Glasgow and the University of Strathclyde to provide an objective assessment of the Parking Management Scheme and its impacts during the first year of
operation.”
By Marie Sharp Local Democracy Reporter
