To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 12 January 2010.

It was pointed out that the reference to “British Rail” at the second bullet point on page 6, should have read “Network Rail”.

Subject to this amendment, the Minutes of the meeting held on 12 January 2010 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Diana Irving, Pauline Quadling and Pam Spencer.

Report of the Director of Organisational Development.  

The Scrutiny Officer presented the report which comprised a review of the evidence received and recommendations for the formulation of “in-principle” proposals. 

The report aimed to bring together the strands of the discussion held thus far, and it drew attention to the following:

• that the group had met five times; 

• the various strands of evidence which had been received and discussed;

• the site visits back in the summer, during which Members had examined conditions on the ground in all five market towns; and

• that the Group had commissioned in-depth research from members of the UEA business school.

He reminded Members that the original plan had been for them to review off-street car parking arrangements across the whole District, with the aim of putting forward recommendations to the Overview & Scrutiny Commission in Spring 2010.  However the focus had changed - largely because Attleborough Town Council had registered particular concern about the off-street parking conditions and congestion problems in their town.   The Review had therefore concentrated on Attleborough initially.  He noted that off-street parking arrangements in the other four market towns (Dereham, Swaffham, Thetford and Watton) still needed to be addressed. 

Other key points highlighted in the report included:

• Historically Breckland District Council’s policy was for essentially free car parking across the district.

• That there were some short-term Parking Orders in place across the District (though none in Attleborough).   However few were currently enforced.

• The ongoing Local Development Framework discussions meant that there would be considerable growth and development in Attleborough over the coming decade.   Such expansion would inevitably have an impact on parking in the town.

• The current key areas of parking provision were the Queen’s Square, Edenside and Horse Pit car parks, which were all Council-owned.  Parking was also available at the Railway Station and the two supermarkets (Sainsbury’s and Lidl). 

• There were capacity issues in terms of blocking of spaces, especially at key times.  Also some staff from Sainsbury’s were tending to park nearer to the store, rather than use the agreed allocated spaces at Connaught Hall. 

(As an aside at this stage, a Member pointed out that with the exception of the two supermarkets, who clearly contributed to the Attleborough’s overall parking facilities, very few other businesses in the town actually provided any car parking - whether for customers or staff.)

• There was only a limited amount of on-street parking available in Attleborough as much of the town centre area had double yellow line markings.

• Not much was known about Network Rail/National Express East Anglia’s plans to expand their own car parking facilities.    (The Scrutiny Officer had emailed both companies but had received no reply thus far.)

• Members had noted some wear and tear issues, particularly at Edenside and the Horse Pit.    The Queen’s Square car park had had some remedial work done on it relatively recently, but there were still some areas which needed improvement. 

The Scrutiny Officer explained that the Appendices to the report were designed to draw together and summarise key findings.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

To agree a date and time for the next meeting.

It was agreed that the next meeting should be in Attleborough one evening.  It would be open to members of the public and representatives from key external agencies would be invited to attend.   An advance notice about this meeting would appear in the press. 

The Chairman confirmed that there would be an opportunity for the input and views raised at the public meeting to be fed into the Group’s final report to Breckland Council’s Overview & Scrutiny Commission in April 2010.  If satisfied, the Commission would then pass the recommendations up to Cabinet for formal ratification.    

The date and time of this meeting was provisionally arranged for 10^th March, subject to confirmation.