The RPA approval process
When a request for a Residents' Parking Area is received by the Council, a number of tests and consultations need to be passed before the RPA is brought into effect.
Initial request
When an application is made, the Council will first check that it meets the basic criteria. These are:
- It must come from a group of residents (or residents' association) that reside within that area
- It must have support from at least 25% of the households living within the area proposed
- Schemes must be cost effective and manageable, so individual roads will not be considered and in most cases at least five roads will need to be included
- All roads must be adopted public highways, so no private roads and no incomplete developments
Scoring
The Council, along with considerations from the waste provider and emergency services, will then score applications based on a number of criteria. They are:
- Level of support
- Streetscape
- Safety/access
- Financial
Informal consultation
This is the first of three consultations. A draft design will be developed, which may include a wider area than proposed if parking displacement may occur. A leaflet with a consultation response form will be delivered to all properties in the affected area, and ward councillors will be consulted.
A response rate of 50% is the minimum required to ensure that the results of the consultation are valid. Out of those that do respond, a minimum of 65% in agreement is necessary to proceed to formal consultation.
Outline design and formal consultation
A further consultation with households will provide full details of the scheme, permit costs and information relating to maximum number of permits if applicable. A public meeting will be held in or close to the location which will be advertised via the consultation leaflet, press release and public notices.
For this consultation, at least 70% of residents need to demonstrate support for the proposal before it can be pursued to implementation. No response to the consultation will be deemed as a vote against.
Statutory consultation
If the proposal is approved, a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) will be drafted and will be subject to a statutory 21 day consultation. This will include local services such as the fire service and police. The plans will be available to view on the Council’s website and at the Council Offices during this period.
Any formal comments or objections will be reported to the Cabinet Member for Environment for consideration, who will make the final decision as to whether the scheme will move to implementation.
Implementation
Once the statutory consultation period has elapsed, subject to there being no major objections or design changes required, the scheme will proceed to implementation. All affected households will be written to, notifying them of the next stage. Contractors will be appointed to carry out bay marking and the installation of signage.