FIRM BUT FAIR: FIRST WAVE SPAS PROVE THEIR WORTH

Parking control is a mechanism that is used increasingly for the management of traffic in town and city centres. Controlled Parking Zones (CPZ) are one way of regulating traffic in urban areas, often as part of an integrated transport strategy. To achieve maximum compliance with parking regulation, CPZs must be enforced effectively and efficiently, and be open to scrutiny by those who receive a penalty notice. Sections 63 to 77 of the Road Traffic Act 1991 empower a highway authority to seek authorisation to introduce a Special Parking Area (SPA) where most on-street parking offences are to be decriminalised. Decriminalised parking enforcement has been introduced following representations from local authorities that police traffic warden resources were often insufficeint to cope with the increasing demand for the enforcement of parking regulations. The enforcement of decriminalised parking through the introduction of SPAs is seen as one of the most effective means of dealing with areas where non-compliance is causing problems, permitting increased enforcement to be more easily targeted. TRL has examined the effects of introducing Special Parking Areas in three London Boroughs - Bexley, Hammersmith & Fulham and the City of Westminster, and in the District of Winchester and the City of Oxford. This involved monitoring parking activity, interviewing motorists to determine parking behaviour, analysing enforcement levels and the issue of penalty notices before and after the transfer of enforcement powers to the local authority, and investigating the operating costs and resulting income of a SPA. This report outlines some of the more significant findings. Specific details may be found in the three TRL Research Reports of these studies (TRL Reports 279, 333 and 405). (A)