APPENDIX B
Cobtree Manor Park Car Parking Proposal
Maidstone Borough Council
January 2015
Section A: Setting up and management of car park charges
1. Parking Services will add Cobtree Manor Park Car Park to the Parking Order which they will be updating for other areas. There will be minimal cost in doing this. This parking order will be in place for April 1st 2015.
2. There will be 3 pay and display machines installed in the car park. The recommended machine is the Metric Aura-Elite. This machine is already used by parking services elsewhere so parts will be interchangeable with other machines. The machine does have the ability to have pay by phone and the requirement to enter a car registration if required.
3. There will be a fixed parking fee (e.g. £1.50) for all people using the park (for pricing options see section B of this proposal).
4. Season tickets will be available from the visitor centre or online, these will be printed on holographic paper to reduce fraud; this is available from Parking Services. These tickets will be displayed in car windscreens and will be registered to each car. A new ticket will be needed each year. Staff parking tickets will also be provided to those staff that work in the park. (The £40 annual cost will include the administration costs). Season tickets will be available to both residents and non-residents.
5. After installation Parking Services enforcement officers will visit the car park initially once per day for the first 2 months. Following this period they will visit twice per week at random times and fine anyone with no valid ticket or season ticket. The charge for this must go to Parking Services (as part of the Traffic Order) but realistically only covers the cost of enforcement.
6. Other than enforcement and cash collection, the daily operations such as filling the machines with tickets and basic maintenance will be done by the Parks Team.
7. Cash Collection will be done by the same team who currently empty the other pay and display machines in the town. This is a sealed system which is auditable and accountable. The only other person who will have access to cash collected is the Parking Services Manager.
8. Advertising on the pay and display tickets could be sold to outside businesses, but it is proposed that this is used to promote other areas of the Cobtree Manor Estate, such as discounts at Kent Life Attraction and Cobtree Manor Golf Course.
9. Lighting columns will need to be installed above the new machines. This can be done when the machines are installed, as they will share a power supply.
Initial costs are set out below
|
Set up costs |
Price |
|
Parking Order |
£500.00 |
|
Metric Aura Elite Pay and display machines x 3 |
£15,000.00 |
|
Machine installation |
£2,000.00 |
|
Lighting installation |
£2,500.00 |
|
Initial Enforcement (2 months, at 1 hour a day £20.48 per hour, 7 days a week) |
£1,270.00 |
|
Signage |
£600.00 |
|
Total |
£21,870 |
|
Revenue Costs |
|
|
Tickets ( £4.41 per 1,000 x 140 for approx 140,000 cars per year) |
£617.40 |
|
Machine Service Contract (£61.00 per quarter) |
£244.00 |
|
Cash collection ( £6.24 per collection x 364 days) |
£2,271.36 |
|
Enforcement (12 months, at 1 hour a day £20.48 per hour, 3 days a week) |
£3,194.88 |
|
Total |
£6,327.64 |
Costs are supplied by Parking Services.
Season ticket sales have not been included in this figure as it is unknown how many there will be, figures are based on the current visitor numbers being maintained.
Section B: Pricing Options
Option 1
This would be to charge £1.50 per day and £40 for a season ticket.
At this option the overall cost of the park will just break even (at the current number of 140,000 cars on the day rate this would equate to £210,000, at 100,000 cars this would be £150,000). The daily charge is in the middle of the range of charging for other similar local parks with the season ticket matching the KCC price.
Option 2
This would be to charge £1 per day and £30 for a season ticket (the sums originally recommended in the report of November 2013, at 140,000 cars this would equate to £140,000, at 100,000 cars this would be £100,000). These prices would still leave the park reliant on subsidy from the golf course to break even.
See next page for a summary of car parking charges at other parks.
Car parking charges at other local parks
|
Park |
Owner |
Weekday Charge |
Weekend Charge |
Season Ticket |
|
Teston Country Park |
KCC |
£1.20 |
£1.70 |
£40.00 |
|
Shorne Country Park |
KCC |
£2.00 |
£2.50 |
£40.00 |
|
Trosley Country Park |
KCC |
£1.50 |
£2.00 |
£40.00 |
|
Manor Park West Malling |
KCC |
£1.50 |
£2.00 |
£40.00 |
|
White Horse Country Park |
KCC |
£1.00 |
£1.50 |
£40.00 |
|
Dunorlan |
Tunbridge wells BC |
FREE |
FREE |
|
|
Tonbridge |
Tonbridge and Malling BC |
Town centre Parking |
|
|
|
Leybourne Lakes |
Tonbridge and Malling BC |
£0.80 up to 4 hours, £2.80 over 4 hours |
£0.80 up to 4 hours, £2.80 over 4 hours |
£25.00 |
|
Haysden Country Park |
Tonbridge and Malling BC |
£0.80 up to 4 hours, £3 over 4 hours |
£0.80 up to 4 hours, £3 over 4 hours |
£25.00 |
|
Bewl Water |
|
£4.00 per person includes Parking |
|
£35.00 per person (concessions available) |
|
Bedgebury Pinetum |
Forestry Commission |
£9.50 per car Free entry to park |
|
|
|
National Trust |
|
£2/£2.50 average if parking available |
Cheaper if member |
|
|
Swanley Park |
Swanley Town Council |
£2 in school holidays |
£2 weekends |
|
Charges correct as of January 2015.