Havant Borough Council and East Hampshire District Council are embarking on a shared parking service.
Havant’s Parking & Traffic Management Team Leader Michelle Green believes that the authority’s experience gained using the Si-Dem system over the last seven years will put both councils in a strong position to make the expanded operation a real success.
“Working under an agency agreement for Hampshire County Council, Havant adopted decriminalised powers in 2005. This means that we have been able to develop our understanding of the features and benefits of Si-Dem across a relatively long period of time, and that’s really helped us to provide a consistent and well managed enforcement service”, says Michelle.
Havant is a borough that features a broad mix of communities. “We have a diverse population – from small towns, to large social housing schemes, and seasonally popular south coast seaside destinations. This means our CEOs – we employ 13 posts - monitor a wide range of parking provision, including four residents’ parking zones, and issue around 7,500 PCNs every year.”
The way that the provision is deployed in this part of the county is now changing, however, with the move to shared enforcement with East Hampshire. “With the loss of East Hampshire’s Traffic Wardens, an options report was commissioned to investigate the potential for combining their service provision with ours”, says Michelle. “The report highlighted that a shared service would be practical, and would achieve measurable cost savings.”
There will be a joint office for processing PCNs issued in both Council areas, with a team of four CEOs based in Petersfield to service the East Hampshire area. “We will load the handhelds carried by both CEO teams with one set of road information, with prefixes assigned to ensure that all notices written are correctly assigned to the appropriate authority”, continues Michelle. “This means that where needed, CEOs can operate in either area, maximising the flexibility and cost-efficiency of the service.”
Michelle has also worked closely with ACS to ensure full reporting will be available to all stakeholders. “We will be able to generate detailed reports that show both authorities’ performance individually. We’ve received great support from the ACS team in putting this together, and we’re confident that the Havant/East Hampshire Partnership will prove a good example of how authorities can work together for a broader benefit.”