The District Council cabinet meets tomorrow night and has to decide how much money to spend on improving the Hockley Woods Car park – with the intention of charging car park users afterwards, to get an income of about ?30,000 per year.
The original intention was to spend ?30,000 , but as shown below, the local ward councillors were concerned about using self-binding gravel , and would prefer a reinforced tetra-grid surface, this would cost ?105,000
You can download the full officers report here, but the main part is below:
SUBJECT: HOCKLEY WOODS CAR PARK IMPROVEMENTS
1 DECISION BEING RECOMMENDED
1.1 To agree the scheme of improvements at the Hockley Woods car park.
1.2 To recommend to Council amendments to the Capital Programme, depending
on the choice of scheme.
2 REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATION
2.1 On the 14 March Members gave approval for a scheme of improvements in
the car park at Hockley Woods that were to be completed before car parking
charges are introduced. These included operational improvements to the
parking area and improvements to the surface of the car park within a budget
of ?30,000.
2.2 The scheme devised will involve the removal of some of the islands and all of
the earth banks to the perimeter of the car park and replacement of the
existing gravel surface. It is proposed that this is replaced with self binding
gravel. The scheme layout provides in the order of 80 spaces, which is a
significant improvement over the current layout which only accommodates
around 50 vehicles. Indicative proposals are shown in Appendix 1 attached.
3 ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED
3.1 Following a meeting with local Ward Members, concerns have arisen over the
nature of the planned surfacing material of self-binding gravel as there is a
view that it may encourage anti-social behaviour, resulting in high levels of
maintenance. Members would prefer a higher quality, more resilient finish
and have expressed the view that a reinforced tetra grid product would be
preferable.
3.2 This enhanced tetra grid surfacing has now been provisionally costed and, as
a result, it is estimated that the cost of the project could be closer to ?105,000
than the ?30,000 currently allocated in the capital programme. If Members
were minded to support the higher cost option, then it is suggested that the
shortfall could be found from underspends on the previous year?s open
spaces programme and the Cherry Orchard Capital allocation.
4 RISK IMPLICATIONS
4.1 This report identifies a capital investment that will reduce the on-going
maintenance costs that are currently incurred. If Members are minded to
support the alternate option, this would delay implementation of the charging
regime, originally planned for July due to the need to obtain tenders for this
level of expenditure. The scheme would not be operational until the late
autumn.
5 RESOURCE IMPLICATIONS
5.1 This report identifies expenditure in the order of ?30,000, which is within the
available capital allocation. A revenue stream of ?30,000 has been included
in the MTFS on the basis of introducing car parking charges from July.
5.2 If Members are minded to support the alternative proposal in respect of
Hockley Woods Car Park, then a capital allocation estimated at ?105,000
would be required. This can be found by using the available capital allocation
of ?30,000, plus the under spend on the previous year?s Open Spaces
programme of ?40,000, which would normally be put back into capital
balances, and the reallocation of ?35,000 from the Cherry Orchard Capital
allocation.
5.3 This allocation currently stands at ?337,000 and had been earmarked for a
variety of improvement projects over the next few years. There will be no
further development within Cherry Orchard until next year when the
opportunity will be taken to re-profile expenditure. Changes to the Capital
Programme would have to be reported to Council on 17 July 2012 for
approval.
Easy answer no improvement and no charges. This should be a free resource for the people of the District.
Looking at point 3.1 ” Following a meeting with local Ward Members, concerns have arisen over the nature of the planned surfacing material of self-binding gravel as there is a view that it may encourage anti-social behaviour”
What sort of ASB would this encourage that other surfaces would not ???
Bruce, I don’t understand your post – no improvements ????
Do the maths add up?
I believe the charge wef from April will be £0.20 per hour. To generate £30K requires over 400 paid hours per day, which equates to about 200 cars each staying 2 hours day in, day out. Seems high to me, especially in winter.
So will charges rise to pay for improvements?
Presumably car parking charges at Cherry Orchard will also quickly follow?
Sorry if unclear but main point is that Hockley Woods are a local resource taht should be free for all residents. There should be no charge to park there. If this means that no improvements are made to the parking area I would prefer it. However, I have not parked there recently and cannot comment on the state of the surface.
I agree with Bruce = no improvements, no charges. People living in the roads that surround Hockley Woods will simply find their streets clogged with vehicles that visitors to the woods use. Very, very few people walk or cycle to the woods owing to its location and the public transport options (at best a half hourly bus) means that the parking charge will not discourage people from using their cars to get to the woods, it will simply discourage them from parking there.
I think a better spend of any money that was underspent on Cherryhenge would be better spent on turning the tunnel at the northeastern corner into a subway with a public bridleway running through it – Crossing Cherry Orchard Way is a nightmare, and it would encourage further use of the park by employees of the new Science Park at the old brickworks site.