To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 22 February 2010.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 22 February 2010 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Mr P. Duigan and Mrs D. Irving.

To consider the “In Principle” Resolutions (as listed at the end of the Minutes of the meeting held on 22 February 2010).

The Scrutiny Officer outlined the background of the Group’s activities thus far, reminding everyone that the Review’s initial focus had been on Attleborough.    Other consultees during this process had included relevant officials from other Norfolk Councils, stakeholders and businesses.   Independent research had also been undertaken by students from the UEA Business School. 

He acknowledged that the review of off-street parking in Attleborough was somewhat restricted in scope at this stage, owing to the proposed medium- and long-term expansion of the town.  As the parking and traffic impact of future developments became clearer, it would therefore be necessary to consult further at District and County level to seek a long-term multi-agency approach to parking in Attleborough.

The challenge for the Group at this stage, therefore, was to make recommendations which would help to alleviate the town’s current and short-term parking problems.   These recommendations would then be placed before the Overview & Scrutiny Commission meeting which would be held on 29 April, before going on to Cabinet for a final decision.

This aim of this meeting was therefore to focus on the ‘In Principle’ recommendations and to draw together some final comments from Members and those in attendance.     Underlying these discussions was the premise that the Council’s parking policy would stand, i.e. that there would be no off-street charging introduced in the foreseeable future.

At the same time, it had been broadly acknowledged that some sort of enforcement would be beneficial in order to ensure a practical turnover of spaces in the town centre. 

He ran through the other key points as currently recommended:

• That short term parking should be available at the Queen’s Square and Horse Pit car parks, with Edenside being made available for long-stay parking.

• That there should be some definition and control in terms of the use of the car parks – i.e. enforced time limits and bans on certain extraneous activities such as car sales etc.

• That enforcement administration – for example some form of Agency Agreement – should be subject to further negotiation with the Town Council.

• That there should be further liaison with other key organisations and stakeholders.  (E.g. Norfolk Constabulary with regard to the timing and form of decriminalisation of on-street parking; Norfolk County Council; and the Rail authorities with reference to the land at the station, etc.)

• That the proposed de-design of the Queen’s Square car park should be considered further at Officer level, in order to consider relevant planning issues.

• That Norfolk County Council should be consulted about further promotion of the Wayland Flexibus scheme.

• That some funds should be set aside for appropriate remedial works to be made to the Horse Pit and Edenside car parks.   

• That the Planning Team should be made aware that any future development in Attleborough should stress the importance of providing adequate planning, regardless of national standards, since this was a rural town and should be regarded as a ‘special case’.     Additionally, enhanced signage should be borne in mind, if appropriate, in terms of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

To agree a date and time for the next meeting.

It was agreed that the next meeting would be held on Tuesday, 30 March at 15.00 in the Anglia Room, Elizabeth House, Dereham.