Motion 1 set out in the agenda was moved by Councillor Janice Howard and seconded by Councillor Simon Withey.

The Liberal Democrat amendment set out in the supplementary agenda was moved by Councillor Iain Dysart and seconded by Councillor Mary-Jane Jeanes.

The amendment was put to the meeting and was LOST with two members voting for the amendment.

The Labour amendment set out in the second supplementary agenda was moved by Councillor Mark Betteridge and seconded by Councillor John Dehaney

The amendment was put to the meeting.

VOTING FOR 30 AGAINST 25 - CARRIED

The motion as amended was put to the meeting and it was:

RESOLVED:

This Council recognises that parking is a key concern for many Merton
residents, whether it is being able to park at their local parade of shops to pick
up a newspaper or parking in one of the borough’s town centres for a more
varied shopping experience.

This council also recognises the importance in difficult financial times of keeping parking affordable, especially for residents living in Controlled Parking Zones, and welcomes this administration’s decision to freeze the cost of resident parking permits for the last three years and to reduce the price of visitor parking permits.

This Council notes that:
• The recent town centre and neighbourhood parade parking surveys highlight the concerns expressed by residents and businesses about both the cost and availability of parking in Merton, and particularly in Wimbledon, Raynes Park and Wimbledon Village. The council undertook these surveys so that, instead of a “one size fits all” approach, we could ascertain the specific parking issues in all of our designated neighbourhood parking parades so that tailored solutions with the backing of both business and residents could be identified in each case.
• There continues to be low occupancy rates in some of the council’s car parks whilst we see some pressure on the limited amount of on street parking available in many of the residential areas that abut our town centres. However, there is much variability in parking availability across the borough, with some car parks having high occupancy rates whilst others are less well used, often because residents are simply not aware they are there.  Council therefore welcomes the administration’s decision to work with the private sector to invest in electronic car park occupancy signs that will direct motorists to car parks where there are spaces.
• The local retention of business rates now means that councils have a direct financial incentive to support business and retail growth in town centres. Vibrant town centres will raise more money for Merton and its council taxpayers and so it makes financial as well as environmental sense to encourage the borough’s residents to support local businesses as much as possible rather than travelling further afield. Therefore, this Council recognises the initiatives already taken to assist local businesses such as free parking for all visitors in council owned car parks for weekends and bank holidays in December 2012.

This Council believes that Merton’s residents and businesses want to see a fair, coherent and consistently applied parking regime, which supports and encourages thriving town centres and shopping parades, rather than excessive parking charges and over-zealous enforcement, both of which are harmful to local high streets. This Council welcomes the approach taken by the current administration to address such concerns, such as the establishment of a parking charter and the full publication of parking enforcement protocols, something that was never before made available to the public.

This Council therefore resolves to call on the Labour administration to:
a) Continue with current enforcement practice which ensures the borough’s traffic wardens and parking officers use sensible discretion when enforcing parking regulations, in line with the Government’s proposed ‘grace period’ for motorists to allow them to stop outside shops for short periods of time;
b) Where this is supported by the findings of the shopping parade survey, consider rolling out 20 minutes’ free parking to those neighbourhood shopping
parades across Merton where the survey responses and detailed analysis of the business and residential needs of the specific parade demonstrate there would be a benefit from such an
arrangement, to help support our small local businesses; and
c) Continue with the implementation of the Town Centre Parking Services Review report, including:

1) Simplifying pay and display tariffs;

2) Introducing cashless payments for Pay & Display parking;

3) Setting up a Parking Forum;

4) Installing signs directing motorists to town centre car parks and showing

available spaces;

5) Offering more free parking;

6) Enforce 2 permit per business limit in Zone W2 (Wimbledon);

And in particular, as per 5) above, investigating any further affordable and practical approaches to allowing more free parking for Merton residents in any of the borough’s
council-run car parks thereby encouraging people to use our town
centres more.

d) Continue with the policy of freezing the cost of resident parking permits for the fourth year running.

e) Maintain the reduction in the cost of visitor parking permits