Parking strategies across the subregion

Abstract

This paper describes why it is important for local authorities to develop and implement parking strategies jointly. Parking is now seen as an increasingly effective and selective tool in the array of measures available for managing traffic demand. Within the subject area of parking there are often seriously conflicting stances taken by neigh-bouring authorities over the levels of provision (parking standards) and pricing. The paper proposes a means of overcoming these differences by establishing a parking forum across the subregion. It outlines the different means of setting parking standards and sets out the case for establishing a more comprehensive approach to pricing. Parking management and pricing is set in the changing context of road-user charging, workplace parking levies, park-and-ride facilities and in the realisation that parking quality is at least as important as price. The paper recognises that through-traffic in one urban area would be influenced by parking management in another.