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Appendix A
Fareham Town Centre Parking Strategy
2012 – 2017
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Contents
Executive Summary
1
Parking Data
2
Car Park Designations
3
Season Tickets
4
Disabled Parking
5
Parking Charges and Payment Methods
6
Long-term Parking Supply within Fareham Town Centre
7
Implementation Plan
Appendix 1 – Car park locations
Appendix 2 – Current parking charges
Appendix 3 – Car park occupancy data
Appendix 4 – Car park designations post April 2013
Appendix 5 – Proposed parking charges for April 2013
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Executive Summary
This is a draft of the Fareham Town Centre Parking Strategy that has been
formulated to contain a number of polices designed to help support the town centre
in terms of parking offer. The strategy aims to ensure that parking is provided
efficiently in terms of designation, tariff and location.
The strategy contains a total of eight discreet policies that are capable of
implementation over the next five years. These policies are considered to be
achievable in current conditions with the resources currently available to Fareham
Borough Council.
Parking data
In general, monitoring data suggests that the town centre car parks are mostly well
used, with Ferneham Hall and Palmerston Avenue being the most heavily used short
stay car parks and Bath Lane and the Youth centre being the most heavily used long
stay car parks. The least used short stays are Malthouse Lane and Trinity Street,
though there is also spare capacity within the two multi-storey car parks.
The Gillies long stay car park is the most significantly under-used car park in the
town and serves little purpose regarding parking supply. It is considered that the
loss of this car park to other uses would not undermine the parking strategy for the
town centre.
Car park designations
The current car park designations are short stay and long stay, with tariffs designed
to reflect the fact that the long stay car parks are cheaper than the short stays if a
visitor stays for longer. However if visitors only wish to stay for an hour the long
stays are the same price as the short stays and for two hours are more expensive
than the short stays.
In order to encourage visitors to stay for longer and spend more money in the town
the strategy proposes to change these designations to inner and outer car parks,
with the outer car parks being charged at a lower hourly tariff. It is also proposed
that, given the occupancy data and the walk time from the Henry Cort podium,
Malthouse Lane and Trinity Street (currently short stay) are designated as outer car
parks.
Season tickets
Season ticket uptake is currently low and Fareham Borough Council would like to
address this by publicising them in Fareham Today, improving the information
currently available on the website and targeting promotion to local employers by
offering bulk buy discounts. It is hoped that these measures will encourage
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commuters to use season tickets and take advantage of the saving that they offer
over paying for parking daily.
Disabled parking
A survey carried out in winter 2010 indicated that around 50% of respondents would
either support or strongly support the introduction of parking charges for Blue Badge
holders. Further feasibility work is proposed in relation to disabled parking
arrangements.
Parking charges and payment methods
The strategy also contains some guidance on reviewing parking charges in future
years outlining a number of factors that the Executive may choose to take into
account when making decisions on parking charges over the next 5 years.
This section also contains a proposal to carry out feasibility work into different
parking payment technologies with a view to improving the customer experience of
the car parks.
Long- term parking supply within Fareham town centre
Post 2017 (after the lifetime of this strategy) there is likely to be considerable change
to the parking supply within the town centre as a result of the potential development
opportunities in the Market Quay, Fareham Shopping Centre and Civic car parks and
the eventual decommissioning of the Osborn Road multi-storey. Further work on the
supply and location of parking will be undertaken as part of the master-planning work
associated with progressing these development opportunities.
Implementation plan
The five year implementation plan summarises the proposals and provides an
indication of the priority level associated with each along with a timespan for delivery.
This table indicates that the proposals with the highest priority are those relating to
the car park re-designations.
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1. Parking Data
Current demand profile
Current public off-street parking spaces total 3,255, with 2,600 operated by Fareham
Borough Council (FBC) within the existing car parks. Those off-street car parks not
operated by FBC are Tesco, Aldi, the rail station and Quay Street, totalling 655
spaces, 350 of which are located at the Tesco supermarket. These car parks fall
outside the control of FBC, but still provide considerable parking capacity within the
town. There are also a smaller number of off-street spaces associate with local
businesses and used for staff and customer parking.
Car parks operated by FBC can be seen in the map in Appendix 1, which also sets
out which are currently allocated as short-stay and which as long-stay. There are
currently three parking tariffs operating within Fareham town centre, these being
short-stay, long-stay and premium rate, which operate only in the Market Quay car
park. The current parking tariffs are set out in Appendix 2.
Car Park Monitoring
Until recently it has been difficult to assess the levels of use of each car park as
limited data has been available. Methods such as using the number of tickets issued
for a certain time of day to assess how many vehicles are present at any given time
tend to be inaccurate as visitors do not always stay for the full extent of the time
bought. This method can therefore result in either a significant over-estimation of car
park occupancy or a significant under-estimation. It would therefore be impossible to
guarantee that data gathered in this way would be accurate.
Use of revenue to assess car park use can be a useful tool, however it does not
produce a time-specific occupancy figure that can be easily averaged and compared
with the same data from other car parks.
To overcome these issues a monitoring regime was put in place from October 2011
to October 2012. This consisted of manual counts of the number of cars parked in
each pay and display area at 10.00 and 15.00 on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays
and Saturdays. This regime was chosen as it incorporates counts at the peak times
of car park use on market days and Saturdays and off-peak use on Wednesday.
Data for the pay on foot car parks (Osborn Road Multi-Storey, Market Quay and
Fareham Shopping Centre Car Park (the new multi-storey)) is available via the
ROMANSE system, an intelligent monitoring system that assesses how many
spaces are occupied and unoccupied via barrier entries and exits. The system is
administrated by Hampshire County Council who then supplies the data to Fareham
Borough Council.
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Results of car park monitoring
A number of tables outlining the levels of use for each car park are set out in
Appendix 3. The data has been split to show average weekday occupancy, average
Saturday occupancy and average occupancy pre- and post- the opening of Tesco
(November 2011) with its associated 350 parking spaces.
Splitting the data into pre-and post-Tesco sets enables some assessment of how
usage has changed over following the availability of 350 free short stay spaces close
to the town centre.
Short-Stay pay and display occupancy - Tables 4 and 5
As can be seen in the tables in Appendix 3, if the whole data set (October 2011 to
July 2012) is taken into account Ferneham Hall and Palmerston Avenue are the
most heavily occupied short-stay pay and display car parks operated by Fareham
Borough Council. This is true both during the week and at the weekend, with 90%
occupancy being achieved in both on Saturdays.
The least heavily used short stay pay and display car park is Malthouse Lane,
followed by Trinity Street. This is the case for both weekdays and Saturdays and
suggests that these car parks are the least popular of the pay and display car parks
for visitors to shops to park. This is likely to be due to the fact that they are charged
at the same rate as the other short stay car parks, but are not as conveniently
located for the retail centre. These car parks also suffer from reduced accessibility
as a result of being located on the one-way system and are not very visible from the
road network. Walking distance to the shopping centre from these car parks is
longer than for other pay and display short-stay car parks.
As can also be seen in Tables 4 and 5, since the opening of the Tesco store with
associated parking there has been a slight reduction in percentage occupation of the
short-stay pay and display car parks. For some, such as Ferneham Hall, this effect
is very slight with the percentage difference bordering on statistically irrelevant given
a margin for error. For others such as Civic Way the effect appears to be more
severe, with up to a 10% reduction in occupancy being apparent.
Short-stay pay on foot occupancy – Tables 6 and 7
Of these car parks, Market Quay sees the highest levels of occupation both during
the week and at the weekend. The least used pay on foot car park during the week
is the new Fareham Shopping Centre Car Park (FSCP). However, at weekends this
sees higher average levels of use than the Osborn Road MSCP. All of these car
parks have seen a slight drop in use following the opening of Tesco; however, the
details of this are likely to become more apparent when more data is available, as
explained above.
Tables 6 and 7 suggest there is some spare capacity in the multi-storey car parks,
even at peak time, suggesting that the current level of short-stay parking supply is
sufficient to meet the needs of Fareham town centre at the present time.
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Long-stay occupancy – Tables 8 and 9
As can be seen in Tables 8 and 9 in Appendix 3, the long-stay car parks see higher
weekday occupancy levels due to commuters taking advantage of the cheaper
parking. The most heavily used are Bath Lane and the Youth Centre, which during
the week are nearly at capacity (allowing for a 10% circulation requirement). The
occupancy rates suggest that the long-stay facilities are in general well used, with
the only possible exception being the Gillies, which sees lower rates of occupancy
throughout the week and weekend. This is likely to be due to the difficult access
from the highway and lack of visibility from West Street. It is also not ideally located
for the retail centre.
The long-stay facilities are less used on Saturdays, which is likely to be due to the
reduction in numbers of commuters over the weekend and the fact that shoppers aim
to park as close to their destination as possible. However, it should be noted that the
Youth Centre, Bath Lane and Holy Trinity are still well occupied at 50%.
Since the opening of Tesco, both the Lysses and the Youth Centre have seen over a
10% drop in occupancy, which could be due to displacement of people seeking free
parking at the supermarket for up to two hours.
Implications
Most of the car parks within the town see a reasonable to high level of use, with
some spare capacity being evident for the majority of days within the multi-storey car
parks. This suggests that there is no need to expand the parking supply within
Fareham town centre at the current time as it is more than meeting current demand.
This in turn suggests that the retail centre is well supported in terms of parking and
that shoppers can, the majority of the time, park easily and in close proximity to the
main shopping precinct.
The fact that the majority of car parks see reasonable levels of use suggests that
they are representing good value for money regarding associated costs. The one
exception to this is the Gillies, which sees lower average occupancy than the other
facilities.
Policy 1a –Gillies car park
The Gillies long stay car park is the least used and least accessible of the car parks
and is consistently under-occupied. This is due to its poor network presence, poor
quality environment and problematic access arrangements.
This car park is therefore not presenting good value for money in terms of
enforcement, maintenance and payment machine collection costs. Therefore the
strategy would not be undermined if this site were to be allocated to other uses,
potentially in accordance with the proposals outlined in the Development Sites and
Policies Plan.
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2. Car Park Designations
Current situation
Within Fareham town centre there are currently three operational tariffs, these being
short stay, long stay and premium rate (Market Quay only). These tariffs have been
set out in Appendix 2 as a reference point for proposed changes. This system is
based on influencing the amount of time a visitor can spend in a particular car park
both via the charging structure and absolute time limits.
As of November 1st 2012 it will be possible to stay in the pay on foot car parks
(Osborn Road multi-storey, Fareham Shopping Centre car park and Market Quay) all
day at a tariff of £1 per hour (£1.50 in Market Quay). However it will still not be
possible to buy a ticket for more than five hours in the short stay pay and display car
parks.
The tariffs currently available in the long stay facilities present good value if the
visitor wishes to stay for over 3 hours, however they are poor value for those only
wishing to stay a short time but who do not necessarily want to pay for the
convenience of being in the centre of town. As can be seen in Appendix 2, this tariff
is staged rather than being based on an hourly charge, which results in reduced
utility for those not needing to stay all day.
One aim of this strategy is to support the town centre economy. The Town Centre
Management Steering Group currently suggest that a key element of this is to enable
visitors to spend as long in the town as they choose, enhancing the value of the area
as a social destination where visitors can feel relaxed and secure. This encourages
a longer stay and a greater total spend. It is apparent that there are two elements of
the current parking tariffs that do not encourage this behaviour, these being:
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The current five hour limit in short stay pay and display facilities.
The time-focussed nature of the tariff in the long stay facilities.
Removing these obstacles should therefore be a priority for this strategy. There are
two main policies for doing this, as outlined in the following sections.
Policy 2a: Removal of the five hour limit in the short stay pay and display car
parks
Following the removal of the five hour limit in the pay on foot car parks, there is now
a discrepancy between these and the pay and display short stay car parks, which is
likely to lead to confusion among members of the public. It is also not in keeping
with the ideal of enabling visitors to remain in the town centre as long as they
choose.
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Therefore, in order to further support the retail centre it policy one of this section is to
remove the five hour limit in the pay and display short stay car parks and replace it
with a continuation of the hourly rate up to ten hours.
Policy 2b: Alteration of designations from short and long stay to inner and
outer
The changing of the car park designations from short and long to inner and outer
would better reflect the ideal of not penalising visitors for staying longer in the town
centre car parks, or for staying for less time in the long stay car parks. The tariff
charged would purely reflect the convenience of the car park in terms of proximity to
utilities, charging more for those closer into the town and less for those further away.
This would enable greater flexibility and encourage longer stays within the town
centre.
The car parks that will be termed “inner” consist of the majority of current short stay
car parks:
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Osborn Road multi-storey
Fareham Shopping Centre multi-storey
Market Quay
Ferneham Hall
Civic Way
Palmerston Avenue
Those designated as “outer” will be those car parks currently designated as long
stay:

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Lysses
Bath Lane
Holy Trinity
Youth Centre
It will be noted that both Malthouse Lane and Trinity Street have been left out of the
above lists. The reason for this is explained in Policy 2c below.
As part of this re-designation and the move away from prescriptive tariffs the new
outer car parks will be subject to an hourly tariff lower than that active in the inner car
parks, reflecting the ability to stay for any length of time for equal value, but also
acknowledging the less convenient nature of the outer car parks. The tariff for the
inner car pars will be set to reflect the current offer of the town and current car park
occupancy.
Season ticket holders would be entitled to use the outer car parks in the same way
as they currently use the long stay facilities and the outer car parks would remain
free on Sundays and bank Holidays.
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Policy 2c: Malthouse Lane and Trinity Street re-designation
As can be seen in the car park occupancy data in Appendix 3, not all the short stay
car parks are occupied to the same degree. In particular it is evident that Malthouse
Lane and Trinity Street are the least used of the short stay surface facilities. Details
of these car parks are as follows.
Malthouse Lane: This car park is located off Osborn Road South and consists of 99
spaces. Due to its shape it is less easy to navigate than other surface car parks and
access suffers due to its location on the one way system. Exiting this car park can
also be difficult if the motorist is attempting to travel west along West Street rather
than east, as this involves crossing a stream of traffic. It is approximately a five
minute walk away from the Henry Cort podium in the town centre, making it further
away than Lysses in terms of walk time. This car park also contains a number of
trailer bays for longer vehicles. It has an average occupancy rate of 29% during the
week and 55% at weekends.
Trinity Street: This car park is located on the other side of the one way system
(heading north) and hence suffers similar access problems to Malthouse Lane. It
consists of 75 spaces. It is slightly further away from the town centre Henry Cort
podium than Malthouse Lane, taking approximately six minutes walk to reach this
destination. It is 47.5% occupied during the week and 60% at weekends.
It should be noted that both of these car parks are further away in terms of walk time
from the town centre than Lysses, an existing long stay facility. The current
allocation of these two car parks as short stay is therefore not justified in these
terms. The low percentage occupancy rates also suggest that these car parks are
not the first choice of local shoppers paying the short stay tariff, as at comparative
times the Ferneham Hall surface car parks are nearing capacity. It is therefore
apparent that visitors are not willing to pay the current short stay tariff to occupy
either Malthouse Lane or Trinity Street.
This strategy aims to ensure that all existing car parks are used in the most efficient
way to generate the most benefit to the town centre and support the economy. In
this context these two car parks are not performing adequately. It is therefore
proposed that both of these car parks are re-designated as outer car parks and
charged at a lower rate. This would benefit the retail units at the west end of West
Street, which currently suffer from a lack of long stay parking, provision of which is
currently extremely limited in that area of the town. It would also help re-balance the
whole supply of town centre parking, which is currently heavily biased towards short
stay.
Season ticket holders would benefit from this re-allocation as it would provide them
with greater opportunities for use. This may in turn help encourage up take of
season tickets, use of which has been in decline.
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3 Season Tickets
A variety of season tickets are currently on offer enabling visitors to park in the long
stay car parks or, for a premium, on the roof of the Osborn Road multi-storey. They
are aimed at commuters both part time and full time and offer parking at a reduced
rate, thereby providing a saving over a year’s parking.
A comparison with season tickets on offer elsewhere in the region suggests that
those on offer in Fareham present good value for money, being cheaper than the
majority. This reflects the fact that the current long stay parking tariff is also cheap in
comparison with other authorities.
However, up-take of season tickets has declined over the last two years resulting in
a reduction in revenue generation from this source. This also suggests that many
commuters are not getting the best value for money regarding parking, as using a
season ticket is significantly cheaper than paying per day.
There may be numerous reasons for this decline in use, however a survey carried
out in winter 2011 suggests that the majority of individuals responding to it were not
aware of the availability of season tickets in Fareham. This is likely to be a major
obstacle to up-take and is something this strategy will seek to address through the
policies outlined below.
Policy 3a: publicise availability of season tickets
Targeted promotion of season tickets will be made to local employers, who may
either purchase them for their staff or provide them with information.
Local business groups such as the Chambers of Commerce and the Federation of
Small Businesses will also be contacted.
Season tickets will be advertised at least twice a year in Fareham Today with
information provided on what options are available and how to go about purchasing
one. This will help raise awareness and encourage up-take.
Posters may be placed (short term) in the newly designated outer car parks outlining
the options available and how to purchase one. These posters should be placed
near the payment machines and designed to appeal to commuters who may be
parking there every day or multiple days in the week. It should make it clear that
there are part time options available and that they can be used in any of the outer
car parks.
Other means of promotion should be taken up when available.
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Policy 3b Website improvements
The current website does not adequately promote or explain the variety of season
tickets on offer. This section of the website will be revised to better market the
tickets and provide more information on how to go about purchasing and renewing
them. Improving this point of contact will help encourage up-take by removing
current obstacles to purchase.
Providing a shorter route through the website to the season tickets page is also
desirable in order to simplify access and avoid discouraging potential customers.
Policy 3c: Introduce bulk-buy discounts
In order to encourage employers to get involved with purchasing permits for their
staff bulk-buy discount incentives may be offered to those who purchase more than
eight permits at one time. This discount may be varied over time, but a starting point
of 20% is suggested.
Policy 3d: Remove option of parking on the roof of the Osborn Road multistorey
The current array of season ticket options includes an option to pay a premium in
order to be able to use a season ticket to park on the roof of the Osborn Road multistorey car park, as well as the long stay car parks. This option has never been taken
up by the public and serves only to complicate the system. On balance, it is likely
that the reduction in confusion resulting from removing the option would be of more
benefit than having the option available in case it is taken up in the future.
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4 Disabled Parking
Current provision
Currently Blue Badge holders are not charged for use of the car parks within
Fareham town centre if they are a resident of the Borough. Non-residents are able
to park for free in the pay and display car parks but are required to pay in the pay on
foot car parks, due to past abuse of the issue of swipe cards to enable free use.
Swipe cards are currently available only to those who can provide evidence of being
resident within the Borough.
On street, Blue Badge holders are able to use the 40 minute waiting bays on the
High Street, West Street and Osborn Road South (as well as others) for longer than
the stated time, enabling easy access to shops at the western end of West Street.
There are also numerous marked disabled bays throughout the Borough that are
dedicated to use by Blue Badge holders.
Blue badge holders are also able to park on yellow lines for up to three hours as long
as they are not causing an obstruction. This is a statutory right granted to all Blue
Badge holders throughout England and therefore cannot be removed or limited by
the local Transport Authority or by the parking authority under agency agreement.
Reasons for investigation
Policy on disabled parking within Fareham has remained consistent for many years.
The strategy therefore proposes a review of this policy in order to make changes that
will be of benefit to the town, should it become clear that current policy is not
resulting in efficient provision in terms of operational arrangements, impacts on the
highway network, revenue and location.
We do not currently have adequate information to enable informed decision making
on disabled parking policy, due to the in-depth nature of required survey data and
the extant of the work involved in acquiring sufficient information. The Strategy
therefore proposes the following:
Policy 4a: Carry out an in-depth data gathering exercise incorporating the
following areas:
 Current revenue implications of providing free disabled parking to
Fareham residents
 An analysis of Blue Badge holders entitlement to park on yellow lines
and associated impacts on the highway network
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 The adequacy of the current operational arrangements relating to
disabled parking (including use of swipe cards)
 An assessment of the relationship between disabled parking
arrangements and the use of Shopmobility services
 A review of disabled parking arrangements in other authorities.
The outcome of this feasibility work will be presented to the Executive in due
course. Any consequential proposal to change current disabled parking
arrangements would be subject to consultation, including with disabled user
groups, and an Equality Impact Assessment.
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5. Parking Charges and Payment Methods
Parking charges have traditionally been reviewed on an annual basis to reflect
changes in demand or other factors active within the town centre. This strategy
seeks to continue to enable this flexibility regarding parking charges, with this
chapter outlining a number of factors that may be taken into account in the decision
making process. These factors are set out as a rough guide of elements that the
Executive may wish to consider in context in order to gain a better understanding of
how their decisions may affect parking demand in the town.
Frequency of Review
Though the timing of parking charge reviews should ultimately remain at the
discretion of the Executive, it is recommended that reviews are not carried out at a
greater frequency than annually. This is due to the fact that the implementation of
alterations can be resource intensive and have a cost implication for Fareham
Borough Council. The factors that should be considered are as follows:

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

The need to advertise changes for six weeks before implementation in line
with the requirements of the Traffic Management Act under which Traffic
Regulation Orders (TROs) operate;
The cost of alteration to signing, such as the boards indicating the tariffs;
Signing on the network, which may be subject to regulation by the
Department for Transport, and input from the Highways Authority;
Recalibration of the payment machines.
Price elasticity of demand
It should be noted that research carried out into demand for trips into particular areas
indicates that parking charges are among the most important (highest impact) factors
taken into account by motorists when making the decision as to whether or not to
visit an area. This indicates that parking charges have a high positive price elasticity
of demand, meaning that when prices go up by one unit, demand drops by more
than one unit.
This function of demand is not static and may vary according to the economic
climate or a particular local situation which result in either an increase or decrease in
local income or job security. When incomes are falling in real terms the effects of a
price rise is proportionately severe in comparison with times when incomes are
rising.
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The sections below seek to outline the factors that may influence this equation and
that should therefore be taken into account when considering alterations to parking
charges.
Macro-economic factors
Changes in the national economic situation can have significant effects on consumer
confidence and therefore the demand for parking within town centres. Recession,
depression and growth all have impacts on local salaries, local job numbers and the
willingness of the individual to spend money. When people are less confident in the
security of their income they are less likely to visit the town centre and hence are
less likely to require parking. Therefore, before a change in parking charges is
implemented the following should be considered:



Local salary increases or decreases in real terms considered in light of the
Consumer Price Index. If salaries are decreasing in real terms an increase
in parking charges will have a greater impact as a percentage of income;
Local unemployment increases or decreases. If levels of unemployment
rise, consumer confidence is likely to be low and increasing parking
charges is more likely to result in a loss of visitors. If levels of
unemployment fall, a rise in charges will have a lower impact;
A range of retail health indication.
Micro-economic factors
Changes to the local economy may have less overall impact on salaries and job
numbers but may have an effect on how willing people are to spend money locally.
For example, if the anchor store in a local shopping centre closes visitors may be
less willing to visit and spend money in the locality. Conversely, if a large new store
opens local spend may rise disproportionately are people are willing to pay more to
visit the area. Factors that should be considered are:

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

Opening or closing of major retail, leisure or service outlets;
A large employer moving into or out of the area;
Local demographic profile in terms of which socio-economic groupings are
most prevalent;
Competition.
Environmental factors
In some situations how much visitors are willing to pay for parking may be influenced
by the quality of the environment they are required to use. For example, multi-storey
car parks are universally less popular than surface car parks due to safety concerns.
Therefore when price setting the following factors may be taken into account:
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The quality of the car park environment in terms of maintenance, lighting,
CCTV and visibility;
Where particular car parks are in relation to the likely destination and whether
the area surrounding them feels safe;
How easy it is to access the car park from the network.
Proposed Parking Charges for introduction in April 2013
The full proposed parking tariff proposed for implementation in April 2013 can be
seen in Appendix 5. They are designed to reflect both the current offer of the town
centre and the change of designation from short and long stay to inner and outer.
The hourly rates for the premium inner tariff (which only applies to Market Quay car
park) and inner tariffs are proposed to remain at the equivalent of the current shortstay rates, but with the potential to stay for longer than 5 hours in all inner car parks
(including the pay-and-display car parks). It is considered that these rates currently
reflect the town centre offer in terms of retail and services in the context of local
competition.
The outer car parks are proposed to be charged at £0.70 per hour (with a capped
maximum tariff of £3.50 as currently applies in the long-stay car parks) to reflect the
less convenient locations and encourage longer stays, without discouraging short
ones. It is envisaged that this will increase the patronage of some of the lesser used
car parks and support the town’s secondary shopping areas.
Season ticket holders will be able to use their tickets in all outer car parks, but none
of the inner car parks.
Appendix 5 is subject to change, with suggested annual reviews.
Parking Payment Methods
There are a variety of payment methods available that can be utilised to improve
customer service by increasing the quality of the parking experience. These can
include payment by phone, chip and pin and internet based technologies. Given the
large number of potential options, feasibility work will be required to assess which
are best suited to Fareham town centre.
Policy 5a: Carry out a feasibility study into the potential introduction of
alternative payment methods with regard to the following:
 Revenue implications of alternative methods such as pay by phone;
 Operational issues surrounding alternative technologies;
 Costs of implementation;
 Improvement of customer experience.
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6. Long-term Parking Supply within Fareham Town Centre
Post 2017 there are two major factors that will significantly affect the provision of
parking within Fareham town centre. Though this time span puts these issues
beyond the life time of this strategy, they are outlined here with a view to providing
some input to future work to be carried out in relation to the town centre.
Osborn Road Multi-storey
The Osborn Road multi-storey car park has been the subject of some concern
regarding its viable lifespan before needing to be decommissioned and replaced in
some capacity. Though the occupancy data outlined in Appendix 3 suggests that
there is currently spare capacity within this car park, it must be noted that it contains
three-quarters of the current short stay parking supply, therefore its loss will result in
a considerable reduction in parking availability within the town centre.
In 2012 the decision was taken to enter into a maintenance and monitoring regime
that will enable the Osborn Road multi-storey car park to continue in use for at least
five years and potentially far longer, before needing to be replaced. The quantity of
spaces that will need to be replaced and how and where this takes place is likely to
be heavily influenced by potential development opportunities, as outlined below.
Development Opportunities at Market Quay, Fareham Shopping Centre and the
Civic Area
These areas have now been identified within Fareham Borough Council’s
Development Sites and Policies Plan as providing development opportunities in the
future. It is likely that the progression of these development opportunities would
affect almost all the newly designated inner car parks. This strategy therefore must
take account of the fact that the current situation regarding parking in the town centre
may change dramatically following the masterplanning and progression of these
development opportunities.
It is not currently possible to provide information on what form any development
proposals may take and therefore how, and in which locations, parking may be
provided. The Development Sites and policies plan indicates that development
proposals should take place in accordance with an agreed masterplan for the Central
Area to allow for a mix of uses, including the re-provision of a multi-storey car park,
potentially on a smaller scale that that currently provided.
Policies within the Development Sites and Policies plan focus on the Civic Area,
Market Quay and Fareham Shopping Centre. These development opportunities
would therefore affect the replacement of the Osborn Road multi-storey, the existing
19
Item 10(1)
Market Quay car park and potentially the surface parking at Ferneham Hall. It is
therefore possible that as a result of this work the majority of the town centre parking
supply will be altered in some way, with re-provision not necessarily taking place in
the same locations.
It is also unknown at the current time how much parking in total will be required to
support the town centre following the progression of these development
opportunities and potential expansion of the retail and cultural offer.
This potential change to the parking supply post 2017 makes it impossible for this
strategy to accurately predict how many spaces currently provided in the Osborn
Road multi-storey will need to be re-provided, or what the best way of doing this may
be. This work will need to be undertaken as part of the masterplanning work for the
Central Area, which will be in a position to incorporate far more information than is
available at the current time and provide a comprehensive and integrated plan for reprovision of parking in the town centre area.
However, though in this context it is not possible for this strategy to provide direct
answers regarding replacement of the Osborn Road multi-storey or the future
parking supply, it does provide a number of key considerations for the
masterplanning work. These are:





The balance of parking provision between to the North and South of the
town centre.
The balance between surface parking and multi-storey provision.
How the parking provision relates to the development in terms of retail
offer and demand.
The continuity of parking supply in light of the decommissioning of the
Osborn Road multi-storey and the need to ensure sufficient provision in
the interim between this car park being decommissioned and a new
permanent solution being built.
The potential need to expand the Christmas Park and Ride service to
absorb the peak in demand for parking over this period.
20
Item 10(1)
7. Implementation Plan
Policy
Priority
Action
1a
Low
Enable the decommissioning and sale of the Gillies car park
when the opportunity arises for disposal via Estates.
2a
High
2b
High
2c
High
3a
Medium
3b
High
3c
Medium
Investigate and publicise bulk buy discounts of season tickets
Placement on website as soon as
possible, however implementation
will depend on requests generated
4a
Medium
Undertake feasibility work on disabled parking arrangements.
Autumn 2013
5a
Medium
Undertake feasibility work into parking payment methods.
Autumn 2013
Arrange via Parking Services the removal of the five hour limit on
stays in the short stay (new designated inner) and display car
parks in order to be consistent with the pay on foot facilities.
Re-designation of the car parks from long and short stay to inner
and outer. To include changes to the payment machines, tariff
boards, highway signing and website information pages.
Designation of Malthouse Lane and Trinity Street as outer car
parks.
Use in Fareham Today and on-going advertising campaign to
promote car park changes.
Include website alterations in general website review currently
taking place in 2012.
Timescale
On-going - depending on
development opportunities in the
area
1 April 2013
1 April 2013
1 April 2013
Spring 2013
Immediately upon adoption of
strategy
21
Appendix 1 - Map of Current Car Parks
Item 10(1)
22
Appendix 2 – Current car park charges
Table 1 – Market Quay premium rate tariff
Market Quay Premium car
park
£1.50
Up to 1 hour
Up to 2 hours
£3
Up to 3 hours
£4.50
Up to 4 hours
£6
Up to 5 hours
£7.50
Over 5 hours
£25 penalty fee
Table 2 – Short-stay pay and display and pay on foot tariffs
Short-stay car parks
Up to 1 hour
£1
Up to 2 hours
£2
Up to 3 hours
£3
Up to 4 hours
£4
Up to 5 hours
£5
Over 5 hours
£25/PCN
Table 3 – Long-stay tariffs
Long-stay car parks
Up to one hour
£1
Up to five
hours
£2.80
Over five
hours
£3.50
Sundays &
Bank Holidays
Free
Item 10(1)
23
Item 10(1)
Appendix 3 – Current car park occupancy
Table 4 – Short-stay pay and display weekday occupancy
Data gathered from Oct
2011 to July 2012
Weekday data
Short-stay pay
and display car
parks
Total
spaces
in car
park
Percentage
average
daily
occupancy
on
weekdays
Number of
unoccupied
spaces on
weekdays
Data gathered early Oct to 24th
Nov 2011
Data gathered 24th Nov 2011 to July
2012
Average
percentage daily
occupancy on
weekdays preTesco
Average percentage daily
occupancy on weekdays
post-Tesco
Number of
unoccupied
spaces
Number of
unoccupied
spaces
Civic Way
76
52%
36
57%
33
47%
40
Ferneham Hall
78
84%
12
86%
10
84%
11
Malthouse
Lane
99
29%
74
33%
Palmerston
Ave
27
78%
6
81%
Trinity Street
75
47%
39
51%
65
5
37
29%
77%
48%
70
6
38
24
Item 10(1)
Table 5 – Short-stay pay and display Saturday occupancy
Saturday data
Short-stay pay
and display car
parks
Total
spaces
in car
park
Data gathered from Oct 2011 to
July 2012
Data gathered early Oct to 24th
Nov 2011
Data gathered 24th Nov 2011 to
July 2012
Percentage
average
Saturday
occupancy
Average
percentage
Saturday
occupancy preTesco
Average
percentage
Saturday
occupancy postTesco
Number of
unoccupied
spaces on
Saturdays
Number of
unoccupied
spaces
Number of
unoccupied
spaces
Civic Way
76
65%
26
70%
23
62%
29
Ferneham Hall
78
90%
8
93%
5
92%
6
Malthouse
Lane
99
55%
Palmerston
Ave
27
90%
Trinity Street
75
60%
45
3
30
59%
94%
63%
41
2
28
56%
90%
60%
44
3
30
25
Item 10(1)
Table 6 – Short-stay pay on foot weekday occupancy
Weekday data
Short-stay pay
on foot car
parks
Total
spaces
in car
park
Data gathered from Oct 2011 to
July 2012
Data gathered early Oct to 24th
Nov 2011
Data gathered 24th Nov 2011 to
July 2012
Percentage
average daily
occupancy weekdays
Average
percentage daily
occupancy on
weekdays preTesco
Average
percentage daily
occupancy on
weekdays postTesco
FSCP
220
26%
Osborn Road
MS
818
42%
Market Quay
281
59%
Number of
unoccupied
spaces on
weekdays
Number of
unoccupied
spaces
Number of
unoccupied
spaces
162
30%
154
27%
160
474
43%
466
41%
482
115
63%
103
61%
109
26
Item 10(1)
Table 7 - Short-stay pay on foot Saturday occupancy
Saturday data
Short-stay pay
on foot car
parks
Total
spaces
in car
park
Data gathered from Oct 2011 to
July 2012
Data gathered early Oct to 24th
Nov 2011
Data gathered 24th Nov 2011 to
July 2012
Percentage
average
Saturday
occupancy
Average
percentage
Saturday
occupancy preTesco
Average
percentage
Saturday
occupancy postTesco
FSCP
220
72%
Osborn Road
MS
818
65%
Market Quay
281
94%
Number of
unoccupied
spaces on
Saturdays
Number of
unoccupied
spaces
Number of
unoccupied
spaces
59
76%
52
73%
59
286
66%
278
64%
302
14
98%
5
98%
5
27
Item 10(1)
Table 8 – Long-stay weekday occupancy
Weekday data
Long-stay pay
and display car
parks
Total
spaces
in car
park
Data gathered from Oct 2011 to
July 2012
Data gathered early Oct to 24th
Nov 2011
Data gathered 24th Nov 2011 to
July 2012
Percentage
average daily
occupancy weekdays
Average
percentage daily
occupancy on
weekdays preTesco
Average
percentage daily
occupancy on
weekdays postTesco
Number of
unoccupied
spaces on
weekdays
Bath Lane
30
80%
6 NA*
Lysses
276
60%
110
70%
The Gillies
34
44%
19
Youth Centre
108
74%
Holy Trinity
53
59%
Number of
unoccupied
spaces
NA*
Number of
unoccupied
spaces
80%
6
80
57%
118
47%
18
46%
18
27
87%
13
72%
30
21
63%
19
58%
22
28
Item 10(1)
Table 9 – Long-stay Saturday occupancy
Saturday data
Long-stay pay
and display car
parks
Total
spaces
in car
park
Data gathered from Oct 2011 to
July 2012
Data gathered early Oct to 24th
Nov 2011
Data gathered 24th Nov 2011 to
July 2012
Percentage
average
Saturday
occupancy
Average
percentage
Saturday
occupancy preTesco
Average
percentage
Saturday
occupancy postTesco
Number of
unoccupied
spaces on
Saturdays
Bath Lane
30
50%
15 NA*
Lysses
276
40%
165
41%
The Gillies
34
30%
24
Youth Centre
108
64%
Holy Trinity
53
50%
Number of
unoccupied
spaces
NA*
Number of
unoccupied
spaces
50%
15
162
37%
173
27%
25
32%
23
39
77%
25
62%
41
26
54%
24
49%
27
* Bath Lane – there are no figures available for the pre-Tesco section of these tables as during the period between the beginning of
the monitoring regime and the opening of the Tesco store the Bath Lane car park was being used as part of the construction site.
Therefore occupancy figures are only available for after the opening of the store.
29
Appendix 4 – Car park designations post April 2013
Item 10(1)
30
Appendix 5 – Proposed Parking Tariffs from 1 April 2013
Table 10 – Inner Market Quay premium rate tariff
Inner - Market Quay Premium car park:
£1.50 per hour
during charging hours:
Monday-Saturday 8.00 am – 6.00 pm
Sundays/Banks Holidays 10.30am – 4.00pm
Table 11 – Inner car park tariff
Inner car parks:
£1.00 per hour
during charging hours:
Monday-Saturday 8.00 am – 6.00 pm
Sundays/Banks Holidays 10.30am – 4.00pm
Table 12 – Outer car park tariff
Outer car parks:
Charging hours:
Monday-Saturday 8.00 am – 6.00 pm
Sundays/Banks Holidays - Free
Up to 1 hour
£0.70
Up to 2 hours
£1.40
Up to 3 hours
£2.10
Up to 4 hours
£2.80
Up to 10 hours
£3.50
Item 10(1)