COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF LUCAN AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

HEADED ITEM NO. 12

 

Lucan Parking

Pay and Display Parking was introduced to provide a straight forward, clearly understood parking regime which effectively manages turnover of available parking spaces, this in turn ensures that the level of footfall in villages is optimised and that the villages are an attractive place to shop. It also helps to prevent traffic congestion in our villages.

A number of issues in respect of the Pay and Display Parking System have been raised by the members recently vis-á-vis increasing the free half hour period, complaints in respect of the Traffic Warden performing his duties in the Lucan Village area and the cost of the provision of the Parking Meter System.

The recent proposal by Cllr. O’ Brien to amend the current parking bye-laws to allow a person pay for additional time in excess of the 30 minutes free, within 10 minutes of expiry of their ticket, would not be workable and would cause confusion to the operation and enforcement of the parking system to both customers and Traffic Wardens. It is recommended that a minimal fee be paid at the outset to extend the free 30 minutes period. The estimated cost of introducing the free half hour, is calculated to be €250,000 over a calendar year and any extension of this period would have a proportionate increase in lost parking revenue.

The total Parking meter income for 2017 is €409,514.69. This amount is made up of coin income from On and Off Street Parking, Coin income in the sum of €373,794.96 and €35,719.73 from Parking Tag Income. The cost of the Parking Meter system for 2017 is €311,496.33. Again, it should be noted that any extension of the free parking period would have an adverse effect on the revenue for the operation of the scheme.

A number of complaints have been received in respect of the Traffic Warden in the Lucan Village area in relation to how the warden performs warden duties and the interaction of the warden with members of the public. The Council have raised this issue with the Parking Contractor on a number of occasions as the ethos of parking enforcement that we wish to deliver is of a fair, impartial and professional service standard. To ensure this is the case we have now agreed that all wardens will use a Body Worn Video device which will be used in certain circumstances that are compliant with Data Protection requirements.

Body Worn Video devices can record exactly what happened, what was said and when, in an indisputable format. All wardens will receive training and guidance in their use. The use of BWV by wardens must be:

Incident specific

Proportionate

Legitimate

Necessary

Justifiable

The use of BWV devices will comply with all data protection requirements and it is hoped the use of these devices will reduce the number of complaints received in respect of parking enforcement in the County.