Agenda and draft minutes

To approve as correct the notes of the meeting held on 30 November 2016.

The notes of the meeting held on 30 November 2016 were agreed by the group.

The Chairman announced that the consultation for Rural Car Parking came to an end on the 15^th January and then proceeded to give a summary of the responses received to Members.

The main topics of received responses were as follows:

·         Introducing a charge in rural car parks may lead to an increase in cars parking on the street in surrounding areas.

·         Having to pay for parking may negatively impact events held at village halls.

·         Although it would be cheaper to have card only ticket machines it would provide greater accessibility to have machines that accept both cash and card.

·         Steyning Grammar School Objected to the proposal.

In total there had been 122 objections received over the extended consultation period and one petition had been started in Steyning that opposed the introduction of rural car parking charges. Members noted that 23% of signatures on the petition were of people residing outside of Steyning.

Members discussed the fact that Car Parks will and always have had high maintenance costs and car parks will need to charge for parking to pay the costs.

Members noted that HDC would have to begin working with WSCC to help prevent the potential increase in street parking.

Members agreed to review the introduction of Rural Car Parking Charges three months after the charges have come into effect.

The Chairman gave Members a brief update on Town Centre Parking and provided ticket sales data from the last quarter, this led to a discussion for the potential need to increase town centre parking capacity in the future and possible restructure of existing car parks.