100407 Final Lymington Study Report - New Forest District · · 2013-05-17Project Centre has...

Lymington Parking Study

Final Study Report

New Forest District Council April 2010

© Project Centre 2010 Lymington Parking Study 1

DOCUMENT CONTROL

Project Centre has prepared this report in accordance with the instructions from New Forest District

Council. Project Centre shall not be liable for the use of any information contained herein for any

purpose other than the sole and specific use for which it was prepared.

Project

Reference Issue Description Originator Checked Authorised

451 100

0105

Version

1

Final Study

Report

Ian Hastings

9.04.10

Stacey Amey

9.04.10

Mark Bland

12.04.10

CONTACT

Ian Hastings

Technical Director

[email protected]

020 7430 6982

Saffron Court

14b St. Cross Street

London

EC1N 8XA


CONTENTS PAGE PAGE NO.

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3

2. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 5

3. DATA COLLECTION, PARKING SURVEYS AND PARKING CHARGES 6

4. SITE INSPECTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS 12

5. ANALYSIS OF COLLECTED INFORMATION AND DATA 20

6. STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT AND CONSULTATIONS 26

7. OPTIONS AND PROPOSALS 33

8. CONCLUSIONS 47

9. RECOMMENDATIONS 54

10. OUTCOME OF FINAL STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS 56

11. QUALITY 58

APPENDIX A - FACE TO FACE INTERVIEW SURVEY RESULTS A

APPENDIX B - CAR PARKS USAGE AND CAPACITY CHARTS B

APPENDIX C - INITIAL STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION QUESTIONNAIRE C

APPENDIX D - STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION FEEDBACK MEETING NOTES D

APPENDIX E - HAMPSHIRE CC PARKING POLICIES E

APPENDIX F - LYMINGTON CAR PARKS LAYOUT PLAN F

APPENDIX G - FINAL STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION MEETING NOTES G


1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.1 New Forest District Council has appointed Project Centre to assist the Council in

identifying the demand and availability for parking in Lymington Town Centre over the

next ten year period.

1.2 The objectives of the parking study are to establish the current and projected demand

based upon existing occupancy data, the growth in car usage, developments and

tourism. The study has then assessed what options were available for creating an

increase in parking space through changes to existing controls, tariffs and layouts, and

then considered other alternatives such as the possible decking of car parks or the

introduction of ‘park and ride’.

1.3 Site Inspections, observations and a number of surveys have been carried out including

face to face interviews with drivers in car parks to obtain supplementary information

supplied by the District Council. To obtain stakeholders’ views an initial questionnaire

consultation was held in July 2009, followed up by a presentation and feedback

meeting with Elected Members, Officers and Key Stakeholders.

1.4 An analysis of ‘parking trip’ growth has been carried out which shows that over the next

nine year period to 2018 car parking demand in Lymington will rise by approximately

7% - 9% for Saturdays and weekdays respectively. Observations and data analysis

show that whilst there should be spare parking capacity on weekdays during the low

season until 2018, capacity has already been exceeded during some busy weekdays

and most Saturdays in the high season. Forecasts indicate that for weekdays in the high

season 53 extra parking spaces will be required by 2013 and 171 by 2018, and that for

the busiest Saturdays in the high season 114 extra parking spaces will be required by

2013 and 228 by 2018.

1.5 Inspections have confirmed that increased physical space cannot be created in the

existing off-street car parks and that very few extra spaces can be provided on street in

the centre of the town. In the short-term it therefore follows that the extra parking

demand stated above can only be dealt with by other means such as reducing all-day

parking and decreasing the number of short distance parking trips by encouraging

walking and cycling.

1.6 Meeting extra demand should be achieved through creating a greater turnover of

parking spaces in the car parks by changing the balance of numbers of short and long-

term parking spaces and the identification of unused Council or private land for parking

on Saturdays.


1.7 In the longer term, more expensive options requiring greater planning and

environmental considerations need to be investigated further such as decked parking

at the town hall / Barfields or Cannon Street car parks, and Saturday / peak season park

and ride.

1.8 An additional recommendation is that all advance direction and parking signing /

markings are reviewed and improved to assist drivers in selecting and finding

appropriate car parks for their journey, particularly if new sites are found at other Council

or private land. Variable Message Signing (VMS) would be of benefit, but is not

recommended at the present time due to the high costs involved.

1.9 Following the completion of this report in draft form, it was circulated to key stakeholders

for consultation, with a review meeting held on 4th March 2010. Section 10 provides a

summary of the outcome of this consultation and the full notes of the meeting are

attached in Appendix G.

1.10 The nature of this study is such that all of the above proposals require further detailed

surveys, investigations and planning before detailed Member-level approvals can be

sought. The Council should continue to monitor car parking levels both on and off-

street at regular intervals to both observe parking demands and to measure the success

of any of the above options which are implemented.


2. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

2.1 Project Centre has been commissioned by New Forest District Council to undertake a

parking / transportation study into ways of meeting car parking demand in Lymington

over the next ten years.

2.2 The District Council is concerned that the current car parking capacity has already been

reached on Saturdays (market days) and at busy holiday periods when tourism is at its

peak. Project Centre has been appointed to investigate the usage of the car parks

through the analysis of historical and new survey data and determine for different

periods throughout the year what spare capacity (if any) exists and how future growth

can be met through physical or other measures.

The required parking study is summarised in the steps below :

Collation and analysis of existing and historical parking data ;

Arrange and carry out any new surveys ;

Site inspections and observations of on and off-street parking locations ;

Consultations with key Stakeholders, including presentation of results and

feedback to Members, Officers and Stakeholders ;

Progress meetings with Officers during the study ;

Establishment of current parking usage and spare capacity (if any) ;

Prediction of parking / traffic growth over next ten years to 2018;

Production of options for increasing capacity taking into account the town’s

economy and environment, the Council’s finances, public acceptability, and

Stakeholder comments ;

Production of a draft / final report to the District Council in late 2009.

2.3 This report and its appendices cover the above steps and its conclusions and

recommendations can be found in Sections 8 and 9.


3. DATA COLLECTION, PARKING SURVEYS AND PARKING CHARGES

3.1 The first part of the study involved the collection of all relevant data vital for the analysis

of the existing parking conditions in Lymington. The study area is confined to the town

centre area bounded by Southampton Road to the west, the railway / river to the east,

the B3054 Marsh Lane to the north (at its junction with Southampton Road) and Stanley

Road / Waterford Lane to the south, and the principal focus of the study is on the

capacity of the town centre off-street car parks.

3.2 Although the Council has provided parking capacity data over a three year period from

2006 - 2009 to assist with the study, the new surveys which have been commissioned

are for the summer months only when parking activity is at its peak.

3.3 Locations of Off-Street Car Parks

3.3.1 Within the town centre area there are nine car parks, four of which are divided into short

and long stay areas. A further car park in Bath Road on the outskirts of the town provides

space for longer stay parking and is mainly used for amenity parking. The car parks

have a total of 1,291 spaces and their capacities are listed in table 3.1 below.

3.3.2 The table shows that long-term parking spaces occupy 67% of the whole parking

capacity (all car parks) and 58% of the town centre car parks (ie not including Bath

Road).


CAR PARK

LOCATION / NAME

SHORT STAY

SPACES

LONG STAY

SPACES

DISABLED

BAYS

TOTAL

SPACES

TOWN CENTRE CAR PARKS

Town Hall

(Saturdays Only) - 171 7 178

Barfields * - 95 2 97

Emsworth Road * 93 - 2 95

Cannon Street West * 48 - 11 59

Cannon Street East * 41 158 3 202

Gosport Road 12 5 1 18

The Quay * 30 24 3 57

St Thomas Street * 129 127 14 270

Southampton Road * 22 - 1 23

OUT OF TOWN CAR PARKS

Bath Road * - 287 5 292

TOTALS (ALL)

TOWN CENTRE ONLY

375

375

867

580

49

44

1,291

999

Table 3.1 - Lymington Car Parks and Capacities

* = Car Parks which have been surveyed during this study (2009).


3.4 Car Park Occupancy Surveys

3.4.1 New Forest District Council has been recording the occupancies of some of these car

parks approximately every three months over the period August 2006 until June 2009.

The car parks which have been surveyed are shown with an asterisk (*) in the table. The

Council’s surveys in June 2009 also included vehicle counts at the non-asterisk car parks.

3.4.2 In order to ensure that the study has been based upon the most up-to-date information

available, further occupancy surveys were carried out directly by Project Centre during

the third weeks of July and August 2009 in the peak holiday and tourist season. These

surveys were carried out both on a mid-weekday and a Saturday.

3.4.3 The analysis of this information is shown in Section 5 and charts are contained in

Appendix B.

3.5 Previous Car Park Usage Studies

3.5.1 New Forest District Council has previously commissioned parking surveys (carried out as

part of wider studies) not only in Lymington but across the whole district. The first study in

2003/04 was organised to assist and evaluate the introduction of parking charges and

time-clocks which became operational in January 2004. ‘Before’ surveys were carried

out in April 2003 and subsequently ‘after’ surveys were carried out in April 2004 to

measure the change in usage. The report by RTA Associates concluded that in

Lymington overall usage increased by 3%, but that there were fluctuations within that

headline figure. In the long stay car parks the usage had changed very little in the

period between the surveys.

3.5.2 A further study was commissioned by New Forest District Council in late 2007 to consider

the implications of introducing on-street parking charges through the installation of pay

and display equipment. The consultant RTA Associates recommended the pursuance

of P+D parking on two streets in Lymington including the High Street, but after reviewing

the situation the District Council decided not to proceed because parking turnover and

compliance with the restrictions was seen to be relatively high anyway and there was

significant local opposition to the consultant’s proposals.

3.5.3 As part of that study, many of the on-street parking areas were surveyed and it was

found that on average 87% of permitted parking spaces were occupied throughout the

day and in busy periods (usually the afternoon) this rose to effectively 100% occupancy.

3.6 Car Park Users’ ‘Face to Face’ Interview Surveys

3.6.1 In addition to the car park occupancy surveys, in July and August 2009, the survey

company carried out ‘face to face’ user interviews on Thursday 20th and Saturday 22nd

August 2009 to obtain some qualitative views of some of the users from a range of car

parks. The views of 220 drivers were obtained on these dates. The results of these


surveys are analysed and discussed in Section 5 and attached in Appendix A to this

report.

3.7 Car Parking Charges

3.7.1 Currently the off-street car parks are subject to a range of charges for short and long-

term parking. Parking can be paid for through either the use of pay and display

machines within each car park or the prior purchase of a ‘parking clock’ from the

Council. Short-term parking (3 hours or less) costs between 70p and £2 and long-stay

parking (3 hours to 20 hours) costs between £2.80 and £6.50 when paid for in cash at

the P+D machines, whereas ‘parking clocks’ allow unlimited short-term and long-term

parking throughout the year across the district for £10 and £80 respectively (2009 prices).

(See photographs of parking clocks below).

Photo

Photograph 3.1 - A Short-Stay Parking Clock Photograph 3.2 - A Long-Stay Parking Clock

3.7.2 Amenity Permits - The Council makes a charge of between £51.00 and £66.50 for an

‘Amenity Permit’ depending upon whether the holder is a resident of the district and if the

permit is for one or two vehicles. These can be used at Bath Road car park or Lymington

Quay and in other amenity car parks in the New Forest District Council area. Long stay

parking clocks can also be used in amenity car parks throughout the district.

3.7.3 Residents’ Permits - These are available for residents of five designated roads who have

no or severely restricted off-street parking in the town for either £25.00 or £30.00 per

annum depending upon the location.

3.7.4 Comparison of Parking Charges with Other Authorities - Car park charges from 12 other

coastal tourist towns along the south and east coast of the UK have been collated and

are shown in Table 3.1 below on page 10 for information. The population of each town

has also been shown for comparison. It can be seen that pay and display charges are

broadly similar to the averages for the 12 other towns.


TOWN

APPROX. POPULATION

UP TO 1 HOUR

UP TO 2 HOURS

UP TO 3 HOURS

ALL DAY

1 LYME REGIS 4,400 £0.70 £1.60 £4.00 £1.00

2 WAREHAM 5,760 £0.50 £1.00 £1.50 £2.50

3 KINGSBRIDGE 5,800 £0.80 £1.60 £2.40 £5.40

4 SHERINGHAM 7,150 £1.00 £1.00 £1.70 £5.00

5 CROMER 7,750 £1.00 £1.00 £1.70 £5.00

6 DARTMOUTH 10,000 £1.20 £2.40 £3.60 £5.40

7 BRIDPORT 13,000 £0.40 £0.80 £1.70 £7.00

8 LYMINGTON * 14,330 £0.70 £1.40 £2.00 £5.00

9 SIDMOUTH 14,400 £0.80 £1.60 £2.40 £3.20

10 SHOREHAM BY SEA 19,180 £0.50 £1.00 £1.50 £2.50

11 CHICHESTER 23,730 £1.00 £2.00 £3.00 £3.50

12 LITTLEHAMPTON 25,590 £0.65 £1.30 £1.95 £6.00

13 GT. YARMOUTH 47,290 £0.70 £1.40 £2.10 £6.00

Averages

15,260 £0.77 £1.39 £2.27 £4.42

Table 3.1 - Comparison of Parking Charges with Other Coastal Tourist Towns #

* = The tariffs for shown for Lymington are for the town centre car parks only not including Bath Road and

The Quay.

# = The prices shown are for the majority of town centre car parks in each town centre and the table does

not include information on parking clocks or season tickets. All prices shown are for 2009.

3.7.5 A survey carried out in January 2010 revealed that approximately 90% of all parking acts

were undertaken using a parking clock in the long stay bays and 81% in the short stay

bays. These percentages are likely to reduce in the summer holiday period but do

reflect that the parking clock is the primary method of payment for parking.

3.7.6 New forest District Council also carried out their own research on parking charges based

upon information on other Council’s web-sites for the 2008/09 financial year. The study

concluded that car pay and display charges were broadly in line with other Councils.

3.7.7 It was found that the New Forest DC short stay parking clock is substantially less expensive

than other Councils’ parking clocks and / or season tickets. The New Forest DC parking

clock is also more flexible allowing it to be used in different vehicles and a wide range of

car parks.

3.7.8 For long-stay parking clocks, the same conclusions applied as above in 3.7.7 with the

NFDC charges being substantially cheaper.

3.7.9 For amenity car parks, the comparisons were more difficult because other councils

didn’t have similar permits, and it also appears that most other councils make charges


all year-round albeit at lower levels in the winter low-season months. It is understood that

NFDC may consider this in the future.


4. SITE INSPECTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS

4.1 Site Inspections

4.1.1 Site inspections were carried out during the peak holiday period in July, August and

September 2009 of both the off-street car parks and the streets in the town centre.

These site visits were made both on a weekday and a Saturday to observe a number of

factors relating to parking in the town. One of the site visits was made with Ms J Welker

of the Lymington and District Chamber of Commerce and Industry who was a consultee

in the initial Stakeholder Consultations. These factors included the following and are

described in the paragraphs below :

Car park signing and direction signing ;

Degree of legal / illegal parking on-street ;

Congestion caused both inside and outside of car parks in busy periods ;

Potential improvements to layout within car parks ;

Potential parking space on-street (including areas which could currently be

restricted by yellow lines) ;

The general condition of the car parks ;

Issues raised during the first stakeholder consultations in June / July 2009 including

potential sites for ‘park and ride’ and multi-storey / decked car parks.

4.2 Car Park Signing and Direction Signing

4.2.1 There are essentially three types of signing used in Lymington for car parking ;

direction and map type signing to locations throughout the town ;

car park specific location signing ;

car parking signing and markings within the car parks.

4.3 Direction and Map Type Signing

4.3.1 This type of signing was seen at the edges of the town centre and key locations within

the town. Examples of this type of signing is shown below :

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Street with two car parks located in it, but there is no sign indicating this, nor is there a

road name plate showing that this is Cannon Street.

4.4.3 The signing above is fairly representative of car park signing in Lymington, and although

the signs are possibly purposely small and discreet to match the attractive surroundings,

they do not indicate very clearly to visitors where the car park entrances are, hence a

review of this type of signing is recommended.

4.5 Car Park Signing Within Car Parks

4.5.1 Signing and markings within car parks were also observed and examples of signing and

markings are shown on pages 11 and 12 below. The signing varies in quality and type,

but generally conveys to drivers the information required with regard to payment,

operating hours and conditions of use.

4.6 Short and Long-Term Parking Areas

4.6.1 Some of the car parks have dual parking areas (ie short and long-term) for shoppers /

visitors and employees / commuters. The signing and marking for these areas has

scope for improvement to advise drivers of which areas are available to them

depending upon the intended length of stay.

4.6.2 In St Thomas Street Car Park for example, the words ‘Short Stay’ were marked on the road

surface along some rows of parked cars, but no areas displayed the words ‘Long Stay’.

This is a topic that should be subject to review to enable improved clarity for vehicle

drivers.

Photograph 4.5 - Cannon St. East Long Stay Sign Photograph 4.6 - Cannon St West CP Signing


Photograph 4.7 - St. Thomas St. Short Stay Markings

Photograph 4.8 - St. Thomas Street CP Signing

4.6.3 The observed scope for improvement in car park signing would provide better

information for drivers to find their destination and may help to alleviate congestion on

the town’s road network, however this in itself would not contribute towards the primary

objective in this study which is to identify and increase parking capacity. This was borne

out by the car parks being full at the times of the visits by Project Centre staff in August

2009.

4.7 Degree of Legal / Illegal Parking On Street

4.7.1 A walking tour around the town revealed that yellow line waiting restrictions appeared to

be fairly well observed with no significant evidence of double parking, obstructive

parking, dangerous parking on corners or parking on the footway. It was not possible to

measure the degree of illegal parking in limited waiting areas, or whether ‘blue badge’

parking on waiting restrictions was legitimate (blue badge abuse). It was evident

however that blue badge parking in narrower sections (pinch-points) of the High Street

did cause queues and congestion for passing traffic and this should possibly be

investigated further, outside the scope of this study.

4.8 Congestion Inside and Outside of Car Parks

4.8.1 The first observations were made on mid-weekdays in July and August 2009 (Monday

and Friday) and whilst the car parks were virtually full, congestion and queues were not

observed. Inside many of the car parks individual drivers were seen looking for spaces

because they were not immediately identified, although this did not create queues or


congestion. Similarly outside the car parks no queues were observed at the entry points

and no ‘backing-up’ was seen onto the road network.

4.8.2 On Saturday (August BH weekend) all of the car parks were full, and with the High Street

Market in operation, widespread congestion was observed within most car parks and on

the surrounding road network for most of the day. Conditions could be described as

severe with long queues of traffic waiting to enter many car parks and consequently

queues of drivers were seen circulating looking for (non-existent) parking spaces.

4.8.3 This was even apparent at the Council’s Town Hall Car Parks slightly away from the town

centre and High Street. Both the pay and display and free sections (eg social services

staff car park) were heavily congested with queues forming to exit the town hall complex

onto Avenue Road, (see photographs below).

Photograph 4.9 - Queue Into St Thomas St CP Photograph 4.10 - Queue Out of the Town Hall CP

4.9 Potential Improvements to Layouts Within Car Parks

4.9.1 All car parks and car park layout plans have been inspected to determine if any extra

capacity could be created by re-arranging the layout of bays, aisles or entrances. It is

clear that all of the car parks have been designed to maximise capacity over the years

and that no obvious changes could be made to increase the number of spaces

available.

4.9.2 One potential area for improvement is the relative balance between the areas set aside

for short and long-term parking. This is a topic which was covered in the stakeholder

consultations and the feedback meeting at the town hall. In theory at least, if more

space was given over to short-term parking (and less to long-term parking) then this

could create a greater turn-over of transactions and increase the capacity, by possibly

discouraging all day parking by employees. This subject will be discussed later in the

Options and Proposals Section.

4.9.3 Splitting one car park into separate areas for long and short term parking does cause

difficulty in signing and clarity for motorists. If numbers allow, consideration should be


given to designating individual car parks wholly to long or short term parking to avoid this

potential confusion.

4.10 Potential Increased Parking Space On-Street

4.10.1 A further method of increasing the town’s overall parking capacity is to consider the

conversion of sections of yellow line waiting restrictions to permitted on-street parking

where safe to do so and where congestion would not be caused.

4.10.2 Inspections have been made of all the streets within reasonable walking distance of the

town centre to identify where increased permitted parking could be installed. In

general, there appeared to be very few opportunities to create more than just a few

extra spaces and these will be discussed in the Options and Proposals Section. Any

changes to the existing parking controls would have to consulted upon with the

frontagers to determine their views on this method of providing extra parking space.

4.11 The General Condition of the Car Parks

4.11.1 The car parks are in a reasonable state of repair with no obvious major defects or pot-

holes. The parking bays are well laid out with the markings easily identifiable for drivers.

P+D ticket machines are in accessible locations and all appeared to be in good

working order.

4.11.2 The principal area with scope for improvement, as discussed above is signing and

worded road markings, both inside and out the car parks, specifically related to

direction signing and short/long-term parking areas. Suggested improvements in this

area will be discussed in the Options and Proposals Section.

4.12 Issues Raised During First Stakeholder Consultations

4.12.1 During the initial stakeholder consultations and feedback meeting in June / July 2009, a

number of improvements were discussed which could potentially increase the capacity

of the car parks. Some of these have already been discussed in the paragraphs above,

but the two principal subjects for consideration were the introduction of ‘park and ride’

and multi-storey or decked car parking. Based upon the discussions with stakeholders,

the sites relating to these issues were inspected in August 2009.

4.13 ‘Park and Ride’

4.13.1 The potential ‘park and ride’ site which was discussed at the feedback meeting was

Ampress Park to the north of the town on the A337 (Southampton Road) where a

previous industrial area has been partially re-developed leaving some as yet unused

land for sale (see photographs 4.11 and 4.12 below).


Photograph 4.11 - Ampress Park Signs Photograph 4.12 - Ampress Park Un-Used Land

4.13.2 It was interesting to observe that the ‘To Let’ signing at the site changed in the week that

observations were made (w/c 1st September 2009). The sign previous to the yellow one

shown above described the land to let as having outline planning consent for a public

house, hotel and leisure, whereas the new signing indicates 4,224 sq. feet of land

available for industrial and warehouse units. This information has been confirmed by the

New Forest District Council’s Head of Planning. It is thought that much of the land on this

site may not be suitable for certain types of development such as heavy industrial

because a sewer culvert runs along the centre of the site. However the Council has

confirmed informally that a planning application for park and ride usage would

probably be favourably received.

4.14 Multi-Storey / Decked Car Parks

The construction of multi-storey car parks (MSCPs) was raised during the stakeholder

consultations and at the feedback meeting. Two sites were mentioned for

consideration, Cannon Street (East) car park and the Town Hall car park. Leaving aside

the cost of construction, the main issue for the Council and local residents was the visual

impact of such a structure within the town’s historic and attractive surroundings. The two

sites mentioned above had been put forward because it was believed that MSCPs in

these locations would not perhaps cause the visual intrusion as with other sites with either

residential or historic buildings nearby.

4.14.1 The Cannon Street car park was identified specifically because it is located on an incline

so that at the lowest level the side elevation of the building would be less intrusive. It has

been stated however that there are attractive views over and through the river valley

from this car park and these would be lost by constructing a two storey structure in this

location and that the structure could be seen from the other side of the river valley.


(See photographs 4.13 and 4.14 below). This subject is discussed more fully in the

Options and Proposals Section later in this report.

Photograph 4.13 - View from Cannon Street E CP (1) Photograph 4.13 - View from Cannon Street E CP (2)


5. ANALYSIS OF COLLECTED INFORMATION AND DATA

5.1 An analysis of collected information and data has been carried out taking into account

the following :

Previous Council reports and studies ;

Previous and recent parking occupancy surveys ;

Site inspections and observations ;

‘Face to face’ car parks users interviews and feedback ;

Views of the stakeholders.

5.2 The key objective of the data collection and analysis is to determine the ‘gap’ between

the future levels of parking demand over the next ten years and the current car parks

capacity.

5.3 Car Parking Capacity Analysis

5.3.1 Step 1 of the Client’s Brief (paragraph 3.3.1) asks :

that the current and projected demand to 2018 be established and ;

that the point at which the severity of the problem requiring some positive action

is required.

5.4 Existing Car Parking Capacity

5.4.1 The existing off-street car parks capacity from information supplied by NFDC is 1,291 (see

Table 3.1), although 178 of these spaces are within the town hall complex and are only

available for P+D at weekends and BHs.

5.4.2 The existing on-street capacity has not been quantified as part of this study, but consists

of a combination of formalised short-term on-street permitted parking places in the

central town area which are all free of charge, and free unregulated kerbside space in

the remainder of the residential and access roads surrounding the town.

5.4.3 In addition there are an unknown number of spaces in private off-street areas such as

supermarkets, other local shops and businesses and council owned premises. It has not

been possible to identify the locations and quantify the number of spaces in this

category within the scope of this study.


5.5 Gap Analysis 2008 - 2018

5.6 Off-Street Car Park Usage

5.6.1 Records of parking activity over the period 2006 - 2009 have been collated from New

Forest District Council’s surveys and those carried out specifically for this study in July and

August 2009. Graphs of the usage in six individual car parks (Cannon Street East,

Cannon Street West, Emsworth Road, Barfields, St Thomas Street and Southampton

Road) over this period are attached in Appendix B together with an accumulation

summary graph of all car parks. The paragraphs below look in turn at the four

categories listed in 5.6.2 in terms of current usage versus capacity.

5.6.2 In order to arrive at the answers to the two tasks in 5.3.1, analysis has to be undertaken of

the data available, some of which is historical and remainder newly collected. For the

purposes of considering the first task above the parking conditions in the town are sub-

divided into four categories with peak usage occurring in the last category :

Weekdays - low season ;

Saturdays - low season ;

Weekdays - high season ;

Saturdays - high season.

5.7 Definition of Seasons

5.7.1 The definition of precise dates for ‘low season’ and ‘high season’ dates is not particularly

straightforward particularly with regard to the Easter BH period where Easter Sunday can

vary from 22nd March to 25th April each year. In terms of tourist activities for holidays and

recreation, these traditionally peak at Easter, early and late May bank holidays, and

during the school holiday period of July to September.

5.7.2 In addition, shopping activity is also high over the Christmas and New Year holiday

period. As such, no definitive dates have been specified in this study, but it is accepted

that ‘peak’ traffic and parking conditions can occur at any of the times mentioned

above with the longest uninterrupted period occurring in the high season between June

and August.

5.8 Weekdays - Low

5.8.1 Survey information for weekdays in the low season is available from October 2006,

February 2007, October 2007, March 2008, April 2009 and December 2008. The peak

time for usage during these months is generally at midday and there appears to be no

particular trend upwards during this period with the average peak usage being 569 cars.

The total capacity of the car parks surveyed is 746, giving an average peak occupancy

rate of 76% (569 / 746). Average spare capacity was therefore 177 spaces or 24%.


5.9 Saturdays - Low Season

5.9.1 Unfortunately no survey information is available for Saturdays in the low season and so no

analysis is available for this time category.

5.10 Weekdays - High Season

5.10.1 Survey information for weekdays in the high season is available from August 2006, May

2007, June 2008, September 2008, July 2009 and August 2009. The peak time for

usage during these months is midday and there appears to be a slight trend upwards

during this period with the average peak usage being 615, giving an average peak

occupancy rate of 82% (615 / 746). Average spare capacity was therefore 131 or 18%.

5.10.2 From direct observations in the peak August holiday period (preceding the BH), it was

apparent that all the towns car parks were either full or at 95% capacity which shows

that for this category the point has already been reached where action to increase

capacity is required.

5.10.3 In addition to the surveys carried out in the six car parks going back to August 2006,

more recent surveys have been carried out in three additional car parks (The Quay,

Gosport Road and Bath Road) over the period June 2009 to August 2009. The average

peak occupancy was 190 giving an average peak occupancy rate for these three car

parks of 52% (190 / 364). Average spare capacity was therefore 174 or 48%.

5.11 Saturdays - High Season

5.11.1 Survey information for Saturdays in the high season is limited to July 2009 and August

2009. Ten car parks were surveyed and the peak time for usage was midday. The

average peak occupancy was 1,233, giving an average peak occupancy rate of 96%

(1,233 / 1,291). Average spare capacity was therefore 48 or 4%.

5.11.2 From direct observations in the peak August holiday period 2009 (Saturday preceding

the BH), the car parks were full with queues formed both inside and outside many of the

car parks (see photographs 4.9 and 4.10 for examples of this). The direct observational

evidence was that for each of the largest car parks in the town centre, the number of

queuing cars was greater than 10% of the car park’s capacity. This confirms the

statement in the client’s project brief which shows that for this category the point has

already been reached where action to increase capacity is required.

5.12 2009 Base Data

5.12.1 In order to establish a true picture of the car parking demand in Lymington in 2018, it is

vital that accurate base data (as far as possible) is available which can then be

factored upwards by predicted growth forecasts for car usage / trips.


5.12.2 Unfortunately the existing car parking demand, particularly at peak times in the week /

year cannot be easily defined in absolute numerical terms with the information currently

available. On the Saturday before the August bank holiday 2009 at a period of

maximum demand when car parks were full, drivers were seen in long queues both

inside and outside all the town centre car parks looking for spaces to park. Although no

actual measurement of the numbers of vehicles queuing for parking space could be

made, it was clearly evident that for each car park seen this extra ‘demand requirement’

could be 10% of its current capacity. It would not easily be possible to identify a more

accurate figure unless comprehensive (and costly) surveys were carried out throughout

the town both inside the car parks and on the surrounding road network.

5.12.3 For the purposes of this feasibility study an assumption has been made that the current

demand for off-street parking space on Saturdays in the peak season is 10% above the

available capacity (see also 5.11.2), which is 1,420 (1,291 plus 129) and this directly

reflects the loss of approximately 100 High Street parking spaces when the market is

active.

5.12.4 For capacity prediction purposes, it is proposed to model the increase in capacity

required for two scenarios or outcomes ; (i) weekdays in the high season and (ii)

Saturdays in the high season. This will provide a ‘bandwidth’ of demand which will

enable the Council to indentify in broad terms the extra off-street parking requirement for

the next ten year period.

5.13 The TEMPRO Database for Forecasting Traffic ‘Trips’

5.13.1 TEMPRO is a Department for Transport (DfT) computer program used to access the

National Trip End Model forecasts of growth in person trips on most modes of surface

transport, and the underlying car ownership and planning data projections. TEMPRO

enables the user to retrieve data for any year from 1991 through to 2041, and calculate

the growth rate between a selected base and future years. The data set acts as a

common benchmark for the models that feed into the appraisal process and can be

used to indicate the justification of a scheme to receive public funds.

5.13.2 The main sources of information contained within TEMPRO are:

Census 2001;

Mid-year population estimate and Office for National Statistics (ONS) population

projections;

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) housing projections;

Inter Departmental Business Register and Annual Business Inquiry (ABI) employment

data; and

Regional planning bodies.


5.13.3 TEMPRO has been used to forecast an indexed growth in parking trips for Lymington

broken down by short and long-term stay, work, shopping and recreation activities over

the period 2009 - 2018. The extracted data shows that the average growth factor

reached by 2018 on weekdays is approximately 109% and Saturdays is 107% (with the

2009 base as 100%).

5.13.4 These multipliers have been applied to the base figures stated above (1,291 for high

season weekdays and 1,420 for high season Saturdays) to predict demand for each

year until 2018, as shown in chart 5.1 below. The resultant demand for 2018 is 1,519 car

parking spaces for the high season Saturday level and 1,405 car parking spaces for the

high season weekday level giving a maximum capacity gap of 228 (1,519 - 1,291) in

that year.

5.13.5 For 2013 the calculated demand is 1,462 for the high season Saturday level and 1,344

for the high season weekday level giving a maximum capacity gap of 171 (1,462 -

1,291) in that year. The resultant capacity gap for 2018 is therefore between 114 and

228 spaces (for high season weekdays and high season Saturdays respectively) which

equates to the provision of a single additional car park about the size of Cannon Street

East (202 spaces). This car parking demand information will be discussed in the Options

and Proposals chapter - see Section 7 on page 32.

1,275

1,325

1,375

1,425

1,475

1,525

1,575

Off‐Street C

ar Parking

Dem

and

Chart 5.1 - Existing Capacity and Projected Demand July 2009 to July 2018

Jul‐09 Jul‐10 Jul‐11 Jul‐12 Jul‐13 Jul‐14 Jul‐15 Jul‐16 Jul‐17 Jul‐18

Saturday Peak Season Demand 1,420 1,431 1,441 1,451 1,462 1,475 1,486 1,496 1,507 1,519

Weekday Peak Season Demand 1,291 1,305 1,322 1,333 1,344 1,357 1,367 1,379 1,393 1,405

Existing Car Parks Capacity 1,291 1,291 1,291 1,291 1,291 1,291 1,291 1,291 1,291 1,291

Peak Saturday Capacity Gap 129 140 150 160 171 184 195 205 216 228

Peak Weekday Capacity Gap 0 14 31 42 53 66 76 88 102 114

Existing Capacity and Projected Parking Demand 2009 ‐ 2018


5.14 Face to Face Survey Results

5.14.1 Face to face surveys were carried out on Thursday 20th August and Saturday 22nd August

2009 in St Thomas’s Street, Cannon Street West, Emsworth Road and Bath Road where a

total of 220 people were interviewed between 10.00 and 16.00. The table of results is

shown in Appendix A to this report.

5.14.2 A summary of the key findings is shown below :

Purpose - 73 (33%) were for leisure and tourism and 114 (52%) were for shopping,

the remaining 33 (15%) were for business or seeing friends ;

Origin Town - there are too many different towns to analyse, but over 90% had an

origin in the Southampton / Hampshire / Bournemouth post code area ;

Duration - 134 (61%) were for 2-3 hours, 57 (26%) were for less than 1 hour, 22

(10%) were for half a day, and the remaining 7 (3%) were for all day ;

Frequency - 90 (41%) visited only occasionally, 63 (29%) visited at least weekly, 42

(19%) visited monthly, and remaining 25 (11%) visited daily ;

Cost of Parking - 128 (58%) thought charges were inexpensive/very good value,

79 (36%) thought charges were reasonable/fair price, 13 (6%) thought charges

were expensive / not good value.

Ease of Parking - 108 (49%) found parking easy, 74 (34%) found some difficulty

and 38 (17%) found parking very difficult.

Problems Affecting Future Use - 207 (94%) would not be deterred from future use

but 13 (6%) would be deterred from future visits.

5.14.3 The findings provide some positive results for the Council with most people not finding

difficulties to park ; the cost of parking good value or reasonable ; and 94% happy to

return again.

5.14.4 The surveys show that nearly all the visitors came from a distance not exceeding 25

miles, which given the time of the survey during the holiday season is perhaps surprising,

any further in depth analysis or examination of the trip origins would require more

detailed surveys / questions in each car park.

5.14.5 The times of the interviews (10.00 – 16.00) mean that any employees were effectively

excluded from the surveys given that they would probably would be entering or leaving

outside of these hours. Further surveys over longer hours would be required to obtain the

views of employees / long-term parkers.


6. STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT AND CONSULTATIONS

6.1 Stakeholder Consultations

6.1.1 The Client has placed high importance on the engagement with key stakeholders in this

study who rely upon the provision of suitable and convenient parking in Lymington to

attract visitors and tourists and to ensure that local residents and businesses are able to

obtain and provide a range of high quality services. It has been important that

stakeholders have been involved from the start of the study so as to maintain their

confidence in the investigations and to ensure they were aware that their views were

being regarded with validity.

6.1.2 At the commencement of this study a stakeholder questionnaire (attached in Appendix

C to this report) was sent to a range of local organisations and groups including the

following :

Ward Members of the District Council ;

The Town Council ;

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry ;

The Lymington Society ;

Hampshire County Council ;

New Forest National Park.

6.2 Consultation Period

6.2.1 Consultees were given three weeks in which to respond to the questionnaire which

contained 20 questions (some with multiple choice answers) about parking provision in

Lymington.

6.3 Consultation Results

6.3.1 A summary of the analysis is shown in the table below and in paragraph 8.16 in the

conclusions to the proposals in Section 8. (Answers to Question 1 have not been

included below since these only related to the identity and the role of the stakeholder).


Question

Summary of Answers Given

Q2 – How important is the provision of

parking ?

The respondents consider that the town’s

car parks are either very important or

extremely important to the vitality of

Lymington and its ability to attract visitors,

shoppers and income.

Q3 – How well located is parking in

Lymington ?

The consultees find that the car parks are

either just about sufficient for most

destinations within the town, or that it’s

difficult to locate convenient parking

space, and the Council should take action

to reduce this problem.

Q4 – How well is parking signed in

Lymington ?

The majority of consultees believe that the

town’s car parks are signed fairly well and

signing is not recognised as problem in

Lymington.

Q5 – How could parking signing be

improved in Lymington ?

Although car park signing in general (last

question) was seen to be adequate, all

respondees agree that signing on the

approaches or ‘gateways’ to the town

could be improved. Signing from the

direction of the Forest and the Ferry

terminal would be very helpful.

Q6 – Should further signing be avoided in

Lymington ?

The majority of respondents consider that

whilst additional signing, possibly Variable

Message Signing should be considered for

approaches to the town; extra signing

within the centre of the town is not

required. Any signing would have to be

sympathetic to the surroundings and not

used in proliferation.


Question


Q7 – What is the most common feedback

that you receive on parking in Lymington ?

Too much parking in residential roads by

visitors and residents’ parking schemes

should be considered. Difficulties in the

town for employees to come to work by

car. The car parks are frequently full and

there is insufficient space. Parking in the

High Street area is very difficult particularly

on Market Days and in the tourist seasons.

Visitors are directed to the town centre

before signing directs them to car parks.

Q8 – What do you think about the level of

parking provision in Lymington ?

The respondees consider that either

parking space is sufficient for most of the

time except on Saturdays and that the

Council should consider taking some

action during peak times, or that finding

parking space can often be difficult the

Council should make it a high priority to

create more space as soon as possible.

Q9 – Is the balance between short and

long term parking right /

There were mixed views on the balance of

short and long-term parking, with some

believing that the balance was about

right. Two requests for more short-term

parking and one request for more long-

term parking were made.

Q10 – What do you think about the

balance of yellow lines and white parking

bays ?

The majority of consultees consider that

the Council has got the balance between

the provision of yellow line restrictions and

white parking bays about right. Two

consultees consider that because traffic

conditions are often difficult around

Lymington, no more on-street parking

should be provided.


Question


Q11 - Are there areas of Lymington where

parking is unduly restricted ?

Controls in Daniels Walk, Grove Road,

Stanley Road, Westfield Road, East Hill and

Church Lane should be looked at where

drivers avoid parking charges. The quay

and the hospital are unduly restricted or

has insufficient space. The car parks in

general are busy on Saturdays and holiday

periods. Space in Cannon Street East and

Bath Road car parks is insufficient.

Q12 – Are there locations for more parking

space in Lymington ?

Parking space in the town hall car park at

weekends could be better publicised, and

parking could be provided at the front of

the town hall. Implement ‘Park and Ride’

at Ampress Park, Strawberry Fields or

Pennington. Cannon Street car park could

have 2 or 3 storey decking. Locations at

the quay, Bath Road, the hospital and

Social Services sites could be adapted or

used for public parking.

Q13 – What do you think about the use of

decked (M/S) car parks in Lymington ?

No-one considered that decked (multi-

storey) car parks would be entirely

inappropriate in Lymington. All

respondees considered that the Council

should look at their provision because a

lack of parking space in the future will

affect the town’s economic well-being,

although two respondents said that this

should not be the first option.


‘park and ride’ for Lymington ?

The majority of consultees considered that

‘Park and Ride’ was a good idea to reduce

congestion and the Council should look to

see how this could be achieved.

Two consultees believed that this option


Question


was unrealistic or that it would be too

inconvenient for most people.

Q15 – What do you think about the cost of

parking in Lymington ?

The consultees considered that the cost of

parking in Lymington is either surprisingly

cheap compared to other towns in

Hampshire or Dorset or that parking was

priced ‘about right’ for the location and

amenities available.


‘pricing management’ for freeing-up more

parking space ?

The majority of consultees believe that

prices should never be increased by more

than the annual inflation rate and only if

parking problems become more severe.

One consultee considered that higher

levels of parking charges should be used

as a way of freeing-up parking space in

the town’s car parks.

Q17 – How do you think parking charges

compare with other towns in the region ?

All respondents believe that parking

charges are either favourable or similar to

other local towns and that people are

generally happy to park in Lymington for

shopping tourism and business.

Q18 – What do think people consider are

the main problems with parking in

Lymington ?

Insufficient parking available in the town on

Saturdays and at weekends, causing

people to hunt around for spaces without

knowledge of availability. Boat trailer

parking in Stanley Road, unorganised

market-trader parking, double-ranked

loading in the High Street, and abuse of

disabled parking bays all cause problems.

Restrictions in the High Street start too late


Question


for Charter Market users. Mixed stay areas

in car parks are unclear and general

signing needs to be improved, motor-

cycle and cycle parking needs

improvement.

Q19 – Do you have any suggestions of

your own for improving parking in

Lymington ?

Better publicity for town hall parking on

Saturdays, provision of parking in front of

town hall, make Social Services parking

area available on Saturdays. Increase

parking in the High Street by introducing

one-way traffic and diagonal parking.

Improve signing and improve cycle

parking. Increase turnover by decreasing

minimum parking times to 30 mins in the

High Street. Increase charges for long-stay

parking to improve turnover and capacity

in car parks. Abandon amenity permits

and charge at amenity car parks. Use

Wellworthy Road car park as park and ride

for hospital. Multi-storey and Park and Ride

parking.

Q20 – Any further comments to make ?

Specific provision could be made for

special events relating to the marina,

yachting, regattas etc. Negotiate public

parking on Redrow development site.

Integrated parking and bus services (park

and ride) on the edge of the town. Car

parking strategies should link with other

transport providers (eg rail). High Street

parking should be for a shorter period (eg

30 minutes), and High Street signing should

deter access for Isle of Wight ferry traffic.


6.4 Stakeholders’ Meeting and Minutes

6.4.1 At the conclusion of the consultation period in July 2009 a meeting was held with the

representatives of the stakeholders listed above to discuss the questions and the

findings. The minutes of this meeting are attached in Appendix D to this report.

6.4.2 A final stakeholders’ consultation was carried out at the conclusion of this study together

with a feedback meeting on 4th March 2010. The outcome and actions from this

meeting are covered in Section 10 of this report on page 56. The notes of the meeting

are contained in Appendix G at the back of this report.


7. OPTIONS AND PROPOSALS

7.1 Following the collection and analysis of data, site inspections and stakeholder

consultations, a number of potential options and proposals have been identified to

achieve the aims and objectives of the study brief in the context of local parking policies

and strategies which are summarised below.

7.1.1 Local Parking and Transport Policy

7.1.2 The options below take into account a number of parking policies and strategies which

Hampshire County Council have put in place to help tackle congestion as part of

creating a sustainable transport system.

7.1.3 The parking policies which impact on the issues within this report run to several pages

and can be found in Appendix E to this report.

7.1.4 In summary the policies aim to :

Enable working with public and private owners of car parks to avoid over-provision

of space ;

Achieve a balance in supply and demand, helped by setting charges at

appropriate levels ;

Reduce long-stay parking for the workplace and give priority to shorter-stay

parking for shopping and visitors ;

Implement ‘park and ride’ facilities to reduce car-trip mileage ;

Encourage workplace travel plans ;

Reduce car usage through the provision of cycle facilities ;

Minimise the effects of parking facilities on the physical environment ;

Improve the safety and convenience for all people including those with mobility

impairments.

7.2 Capacity Gap Analysis - The analysis in the Section 5 has identified that between 53 and

171 off-street parking spaces are required by 2013 and between 114 and 228 off-street

spaces are required by 2018 to satisfy weekday and Saturday demands respectively

during periods of high season activity. Surveys show that for weekdays in the low season

a 24% gap exists in most of the car parks which should cover growth during the nine

year period to 2018. Total on-street parking capacity has not been investigated in detail

because there is no survey data available.

7.2.1 The project brief asks that firstly (in Step 2 of the Brief, paragraph 3.3.2) options for

increasing the capacity of the existing parking assets should be through the use of

physical and management changes (eg car parks layouts and pricing structures etc).


7.2.2 If these methods do not meet the predicted demand then further options such as the

use of other council land, decked parking and park and ride should be considered.

7.2.3 It has already been established that physical changes to the existing car parks or on-

street layout cannot provide more than just a few extra parking spaces, therefore extra

capacity must come from other means.

7.3 The discussion options for improving the efficiency and increasing parking capacity

include :

Direction and Other Signing ;

Variable Message Signing ;

Off-street and On-street Layout Changes ;

‘Pricing Management’ (Changes to Existing Prices and Tariffs) ;

Introduction of On-Street Charges (Currently Free) ;

Changing the Balance of Short / Long-term Parking Space ;

Walking and Cycling Including ‘Park and Walk’ ;

Use of other Council-Owned Land ;

Use of Other Private Land ;

Use of Decked / Multi-Storey Car Parks ;

‘Park and Ride’.

7.4 Direction and Other Parking Signing

7.4.1 Although this item is covered first, it is in itself not a solution leading to an increase in

parking capacity, however it is likely to improve information and assistance to drivers

who would be searching for locations to park in the town centre.

7.4.2 The various observations and inspections that were carried out during June, July and

August 2009 revealed that there is scope for improvements in different types of parking

signing including :

Advance direction signing (ADS) ;

Location signing at individual car parks ;

Information signing and road markings within car parks.

7.4.3 Advance Direction Signing - the first information that any driver entering the town will

have with regard to parking (unless they have previously looked at the Council’s web-site)

will be the identification of some car parks on the map, stack and flag type direction

signs on the periphery of Lymington, (an example of this is shown in photograph 4.1).


7.4.4 Advance direction signing should be designed and located in a logical manner taking

into account the district’s hierarchy of roads within the network, so as to direct and

maintain traffic away from minor residential and narrow access roads. This signing

should be designed and located in accordance with the Traffic Signs Regulations and

General Directions (TSRGD) 2002, Chapter 7 of the Traffic Signs Manual and Local

Transport Note 1/94.

7.4.5 An inventory of the town’s advance direction signing has not been undertaken within this

study, although observations conclude that a review and updating of all ADS should be

considered to enable visitors to make a more informed choice on parking destination

when entering the town. This review would need to be carried out by Hampshire County

Council (as the highway authority, or by someone acting with their approval) in liaison

with the NF District Council’s Traffic Engineers / Transportation Planners to ensure that all

ADS is compatible with the district’s signing strategies and directs drivers in the most

efficient way around the town’s streets.

7.4.6 Location Signing at Individual Car Parks - It is understood that a section(s) of the town is a

defined conservation area and therefore signing has been deliberately scaled down so

as not to detract from the historical and attractive surroundings. Despite this approach,

it is considered that the more localised signing for individual car parks could be

improved. For example the ‘P’ signing for Cannon Street car parks (E+W) is considered

less than adequate. On the southbound approach to Cannon Street along New Street

there are no signs indicating the presence of car parks, and indeed there is no road

name plate on the southern side of Cannon Street at this junction (see photograph 4.4

on page 10). Additionally the ‘P’ signs themselves for the west and east car parks are

very small and are not easily seen from a distance of 50 metres (see photograph 4.3).

7.4.7 Many of the local car parks signs have white patches covering up the word ‘Free’ (from

when charges were introduced a few years ago). Although this does not necessarily

cause a problem for drivers, an opportunity exists for modernisation to include the car

park name and capacity to confirm to drivers which car parks they have arrived at. It is

therefore recommended that a review be undertaken of all local car park signing to

determine how this can be improved for the benefit of all users, particularly tourists and

visitors not familiar with the area. The car parks signing should be designed to meet with

the TSRGD 2002 within the series of signs with diagram numbers 2505 to 2513. As in

7.4.5 above, a detailed survey of would need to be undertaken to establish which signs

are in need of replacement or improvement.

7.4.8 Information Signing and Road Markings within Car Parks - This relates to the smaller scale

informatory signing within each car park giving details of short and long term parking

areas, car park tariffs and the terms and conditions of use, (eg see photograph 4.8 on

page 12). In addition, all car parks have some form of road markings for bay layouts,

direction arrows and worded markings short and long-term bays.


7.4.9 In general this type of signing was satisfactory, although a detailed audit has not been

carried out. One type of signing identified for improvement was that used to

differentiate between short and long-term parking, particularly road markings.

7.5 Variable Message Signing

7.5.1 At present there is no variable message signing (VMS) in Lymington. The use of VMS is

becoming more common in larger towns and cities which attract large numbers of car-

borne visitors. Although the design and implementation costs of VMS are significant

there are considerable benefits for drivers and the highway authority who can monitor

remotely the occupancy of every individual car park throughout the day.

7.5.2 Whilst it has been established (and discussed) that signing in itself would not increase the

town’s parking capacity, feedback from the initial consultations has indicated that

stakeholders agree that VMS could be useful in directing drivers to car parks with spare

capacity (and away from full car parks) thus helping to reduce congestion in busy

periods.

7.5.3 A full VMS system involving peripheral signs on the approaches to the town and

individual signs outside each car park would provide valuable information on the precise

occupancy of every car park at any point in time for drivers and the Council. This would

enable drivers to make choices in advance of which car park they should use

depending upon how full each one was. A system such as this would require sub-

surface detection loops at each car park linked to a computerised control centre which

would provide the real-time occupancy numbers on each of the VMSs. The order of

cost for this type of system would be £175,000 which would allow for four signs on the

approaches to the town, five signs in the town centre close to each car park and the

counting and computerised control centre.

7.5.4 The principal disbenefit of VMS signing is that because of the necessary conspicuity, the

signs and posts would not be in keeping with the character of the attractive buildings

and surroundings in the town. It would be possible however to install a scaled-down

system whereby VMS could be located around the edge of the town at the key access

points on the main road network, so long as individual car parks were signed by name

using conventional designs from the TSRGD 2002. This would still enable drivers to see at

the entry point of the town which car parks were full or had spaces available so that they

could decide to which location they should travel.

7.5.5 However, in view of the high ultimate design and implementation costs and the likely

visual impact on the town, it is not recommended to proceed with VMS at the current

time whilst other more cost-effective solutions are considered.


7.6 Off-Street and On-Street Layout Changes

7.6.1 Inspections were carried out in all the town centre car parks and along every road within

the town centre area during the period June, July and August 2009.

7.6.2 Off-Street Car Parks - All car parks were seen to be efficiently laid-out with spaces and

aisles designed to provide the maximum capacity in each case. There appeared to be

very little or no ability to increase the number of spaces through changes to the existing

layout or through removing hard / soft landscaping etc. It is concluded therefore that

no extra capacity can be found through this method.

7.6.3 On-Street Parking - The roads within the town can be divided into two types, those with

some form of controls (eg yellow lines, white parking bays) and those which are

unregulated / part-unregulated, (ie no controls).

7.6.4 On the roads with existing controls, a few locations were identified where yellow line

waiting restrictions could be removed and replaced with white parking bays without

creating safety hazards or potential pinch-points. These roads included :

New Road ;

Emsworth Road ;

Station Street.

7.6.5 Approximately 20 extra car parking spaces were identified in these three streets.

7.7 Pricing Management - Changes to Existing Pricing and Management

7.7.1 One method available to local authorities to increase the number of available spaces in

on-street and off-street locations without making physical changes is to vary the structure

and pricing of parking. Although increasing the price of parking is invariably unpopular

with residents, businesses and visitors, and often difficult for Councils who wish to

maintain affordable fees for its communities, raising charges in a structured way can

discourage short and unnecessary car journeys. This is a proven method to encourage

drivers to consider others forms of transport (walking, cycling and public transport), and

indeed, whether their trip is necessary at all.

7.7.2 The list of hourly parking charges made by other coastal / tourist destinations (see page

8 in Section 3) shows that those made in Lymington are not out of step with most other

towns on the list. Three areas of potential pricing management however have been

identified for consideration, and are discussed below. These are :

A review of the charges for the ‘parking clock’ ;

The introduction of on-street charges ;


Changing the balance of the short and long-term parking space in the off-street

car parks.

7.7.3 Review of Charges for the ‘Parking Clock’ System - During the study New Forest District

Council was charging £10 and £80 respectively for unlimited short-term (up to 3 hours)

and long-term (all day) in a 12 month period, and these have been raised to £12 and

£86 respectively for 2010. The numbers of clocks in use in mid-October 2009 was

43,571 for short stay and 2,696 for long stay parking.

7.7.4 For local people and regular visitors this system provides an attractive low cost

alternative to cash pay and display charges at the time of visit. A simple comparison

shows the level of savings that can be made by purchasing a parking clock. A weekly

two hour shopping visit to a town centre car park would cost £72.80 paying at the meter

(52 x £1.40) giving a saving of £60.80 at 2010 clock prices. The cost of all-day

employee parking would be approximately £1,125 (45 weeks x 5 days x £5) giving a

significant annual saving of £1,039 at 2010 clock prices.

7.7.5 Unfortunately data is not available on the usage of parking clocks within the town centre

car parks to enable a quantitative analysis of parking clocks and the finances related to

their use. However it is clear that whilst providing extraordinarily good value for regular

shoppers and employees, the system may well encourage drivers to make journeys

without considering alternatives such as walking or cycling. It may well be the case that

many owners of parking clocks live within a reasonable walking distance of the town

centre but because the weekly cost of a visit of up to three hours is only £0.20 (£10 / 52

trips), driving for many people is seen as the first choice for travel. The same analysis

would apply to the long-term parking clock charges where a daily all-day parking

transaction over a 45 week working year would cost only £0.36 (£80 / 225).

7.7.6 It is very likely that a significant increase in the cost of both the short-term and long-term

parking clocks would encourage drivers to consider their choices for travelling around

the district particularly for short walking distances to shops, however the amount by

which the clocks would need to be raised for this to be successful as a means of

reducing parking activity would be prohibitive and is extremely unlikely to be supported

by the Council or the local population. Therefore no recommendation has been made

in this report concerning changes to charges for the parking clocks.

7.8 Introduction of On-Street Charges

7.8.1 At present there are no on-street charges for parking in Lymington (except for residents’

parking permits for use in designated areas). On-street parking charges for the High

Street have been considered by the Council in the recent past following studies by an

independent consultant but were not agreed upon because it was not viewed that

driver compliance or the turnover of parking could be increased, and that local people


were heavily opposed to this method of control and to the unattractiveness of the

equipment.

7.8.2 As with the raising of charges for the parking clock, it is evident from previous experience

in the UK that the introduction of on-street parking charges would discourage the use of

cars for short distance journeys and a strategy such as this would directly meet with

Hampshire County Council’s Parking Strategy and Standards (Policy Proposal 1c - see

Appendix E).

7.8.3 As an option for consideration, taking into account the current off-street charges, an

effective hourly rate would be £1.00 per hour with provision for 30 minute parking at 50p.

It is believed that this would encourage drivers to walk short distances to the High Street

and would provide a secondary benefit to the Council in the reduction in enforcement

time spent checking vehicles. This proposal however could only be effective if the

parking clocks were excluded from the method of meeting the imposed charges,

otherwise residents who had purchased clocks would be able to park without the need

to pay a fee. Clearly there would be significant levels of objection to any proposal to

limit the use of the parking clock, but without this caveat the introduction of on-street

charging would be ineffective in meeting its objective.

7.8.4 Therefore no recommendation has been made in this report that the introduction of

on-street charges be re-considered at this time.

7.9 Changing the Balance of Short / Long-term Parking Space

7.9.1 Many of the town’s car parks have designated areas for short and long-term parking. At

present there are approximately 375 short-stay parking bays and 867 long-stay parking

bays in the town’s 10 car parks, although 171 of the long stay bays at the town hall site

are available at weekends and BHs only. Although short-term parking can be carried

out in the long-term bays, the opposite is not permitted.

7.9.2 Hampshire County Council’s Local Transport Plan 2006 – 2011 and Five Year Strategy

contains a range of ‘bullet-pointed’ items which support a reduction in the impact of

traffic and encourage walking, cycling and improved passenger transport. Hampshire

CC’s parking policy also aims to reduce long-stay commuter parking (where this did not

conflict with the economic well-being of the town in question). A change in the balance

of the short and long-term space would provide greater capacity for tourists and visitors

and less for employees and all-day parking and would comply with this policy. (It is

understood that Hampshire CC is currently reviewing its parking policy, although it is not

known how the existing long-stay / commuter parking reference may be affected in the

future).


7.9.3 This could be achieved in three ways ; through the reduction of long-term parking

spaces in the car parks, the non-provision of all-day tickets, or the increasing charges for

all-day parking.

7.9.4 At present long-stay parking is provided in some of the larger car parks close to the town

centre such as Cannon-Street East, Barfields and St. Thomas Street. If for example the

total current number of long-term spaces was reduced from 377 by say 200 spaces, the

consequent number of parking transactions on a busy day could increase by a factor of

three or four in an eight hour day to 600-800 if those spaces were currently occupied by

all-day parking. Alternatively the price of long-term parking could be increased from £5

per day to a higher cost, say £8, which would still allow the activity but would discourage

its use.

7.9.5 Clearly the displaced long-term parking activity would have to be re-assigned in some

way, and this could include a mix of alternative parking locations possibly on the edge

of the current controls (yellow lines), some movement to any unused long-stay bays in

other car parks like Bath Road, or a greater use of walking cycling and public transport.

7.9.6 Unfortunately a detailed analysis of parking data has not been possible within this study,

and so further work on this strategy is required before any detailed recommendations

could be made. This further work would have to include parking duration and user

surveys and / or transactional analysis of P+D machine data. (At the time of writing in

January 2010, surveys are due to be commissioned for the St Thomas Street, Barfields

and Cannon Street East car parks to provide more information to support any proposals).

7.9.7 Any move to reduce employee parking would have to be balanced by complementary

improvements in facilities to assist this class of traveller as highlighted in the Local

Transport Plan and the Council would have to consider how this action would affect

employment and employee relations with businesses in the town through discussions

with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry or other forums.

7.10 Walking and Cycling Including ‘Park and Walk’

7.10.1 The initiatives above which are designed to encourage greater levels of walking, cycling

and bus use require complementary measures to make these modes of transport more

attractive in line with the strategies within Hampshire County Council’s Local Transport

Plan 2006 - 2011.

7.10.2 For walking and cycling to the town centre to become and remain attractive, the

Council must ensure that footway and road surfaces are safe and well-maintained and

that measures are in place to assist any people with mobility problems or carrying /

escorting young children.


7.10.3 For walking, these measures would include routes with smooth surfaces, dropped kerbs,

safe crossing points and were well-lit at night. For cyclists, roads should be pot-hole free

with safe junctions, few conflict points and cycle parking facilities should be available

throughout the town.

Specific projects designed to prioritise walking and cycling should be identified and

commissioned to improve safety, target problem sites, improve bus services and

promote green and sustainable transport. The improvement of particular walking routes

would tie-in directly with any car parking areas that can be identified under the headings

of ‘use of other Council owned and privately owned land’ (see below). If any Council or

private land suitable for Saturday or high season parking can be found, then routes

direct to the town centre (‘Park and Walk’) can be inspected for faults and rectified.

7.11 Use of Other Council-Owned Land

7.11.1 This option would mainly apply to Saturdays (market days) when many Council buildings

are not in use, or most of the staff are not working on that day. The best example of this

currently is the town hall in Avenue Road where the large car parks at the rear of the

building are available for the public on Saturdays. Schools would be a further good

example under this category especially since their car parks would be mostly unused

during BHs and peak holiday periods.

7.11.2 On the basis that the Council itself has no issues with security / insurances on the use of

the property by the public, then this would appear to be a low cost option for increasing

capacity on the busiest day of the week. It is therefore recommended that the Council

identifies which properties have land available for parking and consider how this initiative

can be introduced as a measure within the next 12 - 18 months if possible.

7.12 Use of Other Private Land

7.12.1 This option would apply principally on Saturdays when owners of private land or

businesses may not require the use staff car parks or ‘yard’ areas outside of the working

Monday to Friday working week. The Council would need to identify any potential sites

through communications with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to determine

the possibilities for exploring this option further. A number of criteria would have to be

met for this option to be successful including :

Convenient location within walking distance of town centre ;

Security for users’ vehicles ;

Insurance and health and safety issues ;

Mutual financial arrangements between owner and the Council.

It is therefore recommended that the Council discuss potential sites with its stakeholders

to identify sites for in-depth examination.


7.13 Use of Decked / Multi-Storey Car Parks

7.13.1 At present the Council’s car parks are all at surface level only. The Client’s brief asked

that potential solutions such as decked or multi-storey car parks should be considered if

it is not believed that other solutions (eg changing pricing / hours of operation) are

sufficient. This type of solution for three sites has been considered previously by the

Council in 1990 and the subject was included in the stakeholders’ consultations in July

2009 as part of this study. The previous study looked very carefully at the potential visual

intrusion and detrimental effects on the town and concluded that these would be

largely undesirable for a number of reasons. Although it is not known whether the

Council’s views on the conclusions in this report remain the same, in developmental

terms, very little change appears to have taken place in the centre of the town.

7.13.2 Following recent discussions with Council Officers, it would appear now that only two sites

in the town are potentially suitable for conversion into decked car parks ; Cannon Street

East and the car parks at the rear of the town hall complex including Barfields, both of

which were examined in 1990. Cannon Street East has 202 spaces and the town hall

and Barfields (combined) has 275 spaces. There are three principal issues to be

considered ; appearance, cost and traffic management.

7.13.3 Appearance / Planning Consent - As an attractive and historical coastal town with a

conservation area in its centre, one of the main considerations when assessing the

feasibility of a decked or multi-storey car park is the appearance and what visual impact

or intrusion such a structure would create for the environment. The town mostly

comprises low rise property up to two or three storeys and therefore the construction of a

large unattractive car park of several storeys (despite its obvious parking capacity

solution) is an issue which is likely to result in serious objections from many local people.

7.13.4 Cannon Street East car park is constructed on an incline falling from south-west to north-

east with partial views across the river valley to Walhampton. It has been suggested that

if a single parking deck was constructed outwards from west to east the visual impact

looking towards the structure would be minimised, and the view of this frontage could

be minimised further if the lower deck was constructed at least partially below ground

level.

7.13.5 The Barfields \ town hall site offers a larger footprint for decked parking and may not

generate the same level of opposition with respect to its appearance and visual

intrusion as with Cannon Street East. The Client’s Brief suggests that the town hall

complex could be either expanded or closed depending upon the outcome of a study

into rationalising the current council services at Lymington and Lyndhurst. Any resultant

development of this site could then encompass a multi-storey car park if seen to be

beneficial.


7.13.6 Cost and Operations - Clearly the major factors in the implementation of a multi-storey

car park are the initial cost and finances of the on-going operations. The Council has a

few options in this regard, and if the capital investment to directly fund, manage and

maintain a MSCP is not available from public funding, then there are car park operators

who may be prepared to design, build, finance and operate (DBFO). In order to make

this attractive however, the operator would have to satisfy himself that the car park

would achieve a regular level of usage throughout the year and that prices could be set

at an acceptable profit-making level for their shareholders.

7.13.7 The first criterion would appear to be met from the car park surveys and analysis set out

in Section 5, however it is not known without entering into discussions with potential

operators how attractive the operating of a decked or MSCP in Lymington would be,

and at what level charges would have to be made to enable profitable operating

margins. It is understood that this may have been explored in the past, but the operator

in question may have required that parking charges in the remainder of the town be

raised so as reduce competition with their own (higher) charges. This option could be

explored further, but would have to be outside of the scope of this study. Nevertheless it

is clear that in order for sufficient income to be raised to finance a MSCP, the parking

charges would have to be higher and it is most unlikely that the parking clock scheme

could be maintained or used as a method of payment.

7.13.8 Detailed layouts and designs for decking at these locations have not been produced,

but indicative investigations show that a single deck over the existing parking area of 150

spaces in Cannon Street East would produce a combined parking area of

approximately 280 spaces. The minimum cost for a decked car park formed from a

cladded structural steel framework would be £1m plus the costs for improvements to the

access road from Cannon Street. The cost of a larger car park with 400 spaces and

built to a much higher level of specification to look much less unattractive could be

£4m.

7.13.9 At the Barfields / town hall site a single deck covering approximately 175 of the existing

spaces would result in a combined parking area of 415 spaces with a further 25 external

spaces giving 440 spaces in total. The estimated minimum cost for a decked car park

formed from a cladded structural steel framework would be £1.5m plus the costs for

improvements to the access road from Avenue Road. The cost of a larger decked car

park with 600 spaces and built to a much higher level of specification could be £6m.

7.13.10 In either of the two options discussed above a considerable investment would have to

be made, of upwards of £4m for an attractive car park holding 400 cars, which at the

present time is likely to be outside of the Council’s reach. Such a proposal therefore is

considered to be a long-term option, and only if other solutions cannot be found.

7.13.11 Traffic Management Issues - An obvious outcome from the construction of a higher

capacity decked or MSCP is that greater levels of traffic will be attracted to the site on a


daily basis. It would be necessary to model or at least consider how extra traffic would

affect the local road network and whether congestion, delays and inconvenience would

be experienced by local people.

7.13.12 In the case of the town hall site, access is still likely to be via Avenue Road which is a

local distributor type road between Southampton Road and Gosport Street. The

junctions at each end would need to be modelled, but it is not considered that ingress

and egress to this site would cause significant problems based upon the numbers of

spaces specified above. A car park at this site would require a new access link road

from Avenue Road through the existing town hall visitors’ parking area, but this is not seen

as a particular problem except for the possible loss of existing visitors parking spaces to

accommodate this.

7.13.13 At Cannon Street East car park the access roads leading to and from the car park (New

Street, North Close and Cannon Street itself) are narrower than Avenue Road and traffic

management measures, possibly including junction improvements may have to be

considered.


7.14.1 Park and Ride as a solution to enable an increase in capacity of the Council’s car parks

is listed in the Client’s Brief as ‘Step 4’ and should be discussed if it is believed that

predicted demand cannot be met by other means.

7.14.2 This potential solution has been covered in the initial stakeholders’ consultations and

discussed at other progress meetings during the study, and so has some merit in this

report regardless of other options that are discussed above. Park and Ride is used in the

UK in over 80 different locations (see www.parkandride.net) as a means of transporting

residents, employees and visitors to the respective town centres from more remote car

parks.

7.14.3 For park and ride to be successful the following ‘conditions’ need to be met in order to

attract people from their vehicles and into the bus transport provided :

The car park(s) must be well-signed, easy to find, conveniently placed for visitors

to use and within easy access of the main road network ;

The car park should be well maintained, adequately lit, safe and secure ;

The bus transport should be sufficiently frequent (no less frequent than about every

10-15 minutes) ;

The price for the car park / bus transport should be less expensive than parking

charges within the town centre including the parking clock.


7.14.4 If the above conditions are not met, it may be difficult to attract people out of their cars

and onto the service provided. In the case of Lymington there are a number of

challenges to overcome and the detailed investigations required to consider the

feasibility of this are outside the scope of this study. However, some discussions did take

place with stakeholders and Council Officers on this subject.

7.14.5 Locations - On the issue of providing a suitable location, Ampress Park was discussed as

a potential site fulfilling the essential criteria of being in a convenient location (from the

north) and having an adequate size and convenient access onto the main road

network. As can be seen from the photographs in Section 4, the site is currently

undeveloped (previously an industrial site) but would require lease or purchase from the

owner and planning consent for a park and ride service. The Head of Planning has

indicated informally that consent for park and ride is likely to be given if an application

was made. Brockenhurst was suggested as an alternative site by Council Officers at the

progress meeting in September 2009 for a Saturday only service. This would be on the

basis that the station car park used by commuters during the working week would be

mostly empty on Saturdays and could provide the basis for a service from this location

where there are 230 car parking spaces and 44 cycle parking spaces. The station is

managed by South West Trains and discussions should be undertaken with them on the

potential use of their car park, whether a bus service could be run from there and

additionally whether any special rates could be negotiated for rail travellers to Lymington

from this station. Trains run twice per hour on Saturdays for about £3.20 return, which

could supplement any bus services that could be arranged. It should be noted

however that (see 7.15.9 below) that any park and ride fares will have to be competitive

with Lymington’s parking charges to encourage use by visitors, since any charge greater

than £2 / person is likely to be unattractive to drivers. The financing of park and ride

using the train would be complex particularly when considering the cost of the train /

parking compared with the cost of parking in Lymington.

7.14.6 Discussions with Council Officers during progress meetings throughout the study have

identified other possible sites for consideration including the Lymington New Forest

Hospital where car parking at weekends may be at a reduced level and could possibly

enable a limited park and ride capability. Further research and discussions with the

Hospital / Hampshire Primary Care Trust would have to be carried out to investigate the

suitability of this site.

7.14.7 Bus Services - To enable the service to function a transport provider would need to be

procured, but before that the Council would have to decide over what period the park

and ride should operate. At the present time that is most likely to be Saturdays and

weekdays only during the peak holiday periods. On that basis it is unlikely that a

competitively priced service contract could be obtained, since both the vehicles, the

drivers and service personnel would only be employed on a part-time basis throughout

the year.


At one of the study’s progress meetings it was suggested that it might be possible to

secure the services of a bus operator whose vehicles / drivers were perhaps under-

utilised on Saturdays, and clearly some further research is required to determine if this

would be feasible. Furthermore to save the capital expenditure on a new purpose built

park and ride car park, it may be possible to run such a service from existing parking

facilities around the town, again the location of suitable premises would have to be

investigated.

7.14.8 Finances - Industry experience would tend to support the view that park and ride

schemes frequently do not run as profit-making services. This would most likely be the

case in Lymington, for a few reasons ; firstly the need to offer the service at an attractive

price below the current parking charges means that with three hours parking costing

only £2.00, the park and ride fare would need to be around £1.00 / £1.50 ; secondly

because a park and ride service would probably only need to run on Saturdays and

peak holiday periods, there would not be the economies of scale of a full time scheme

as with larger UK towns and cities. The widespread ownership of the low cost parking

clock in the district where weekly short term parking in Lymington can be purchased for

20p for up to three hours means that for many local people park and ride is not likely to

be financially attractive

7.14.9 It is therefore recommended that some further research be undertaken with local

authorities and operators of similar smaller sized towns (eg Dorchester where this

operates at £1 / day for 5 days per week), to see how their schemes work and to what

degree they are self-financing. It is likely that any park and ride scheme would have to

be subsidised from existing Council funds.


8. CONCLUSIONS

8.1.1 Following the course of the study over the period May – December 2009 involving data

collection, surveys, site inspections investigations, meetings with Council Officers and

Members and consultations, the following conclusions have been reached.

8.2 Current Parking Capacity

8.2.1 The surveys, data analysis and observations in Sections 3,4, and 5 demonstrate that

whilst spare capacity in the car parks exists during weekdays in the low season, capacity

has already been reached on some weekdays during the high season and exceeded

on the busiest Saturdays during the high season. Survey information is not available for

Saturdays in the low season, but anecdotal evidence suggests that car parks are

frequently full due to the presence of the High Street market on this day.

8.2.2 Future Demand / Gap Analysis

8.2.3 The capacity ‘gap analysis’ in Section 5 shows that between 53 and 171 off-street

parking spaces are required by 2013 and between 114 and 228 spaces by 2018 to

provide sufficient parking on weekdays and Saturdays respectively in the high season

holiday periods. These figures are based upon an assumption from observations that

the existing capacity on the busiest Saturday during the high season is already

insufficient by approximately 10%. Parking on-street may also continue to grow at the

same rate and because outside of the central town centre area there are no parking

controls, drivers may start to progressively park further from the town centre and walk to

their destination. This spread of on-street parking should be monitored on a regular basis

along with the car parks to ensure that road safety is not adversely affected over a

period of time.

8.3 Potential Solutions for Increasing Parking Capacity

8.3.1 In line with the Client’s Brief, a number of potential solutions have been identified for

either short or medium-term introduction, although because of their nature they still

require some further research (eg where more detailed surveys, analysis or public

involvement is required).

8.3.2 It is evident that significant increases in capacity cannot be gained from physical

changes to the existing off-street or on-street parking places, since observations show

that these have already been maximised. In the previous section of this report, changes

to pricing / tariffs, the charge for the parking clock and the introduction of on-street

charges have been considered but not recommended, and therefore other measures

such as a change in the balance of short and long-term parking space and the use of

other erstwhile unused Council and private land will have to be investigated in the first

instance. The Council may have to consider the introduction of complementary


measures including the use of enhanced publicity to encourage the greater levels of

walking and cycling as a replacement for driving short distances to town centre car

parks.

8.3.3 The Client’s Brief has indicated that options such as decked car parks and ‘park and ride’

should be considered if the measures above are insufficient to meet the identified future

demand. These options have in any case been investigated and have been explored

in outline terms as longer term measures.

8.4 Direction and Car Park Signing

8.4.1 Although this has been identified as an improvement which would not improve parking

capacity in itself, car park signing has been identified from site inspections and

stakeholder consultations as an area for improvement at different levels, possibly

including variable message signing (VMS). Improved signing would assist in directing

visitors and tourists not familiar with the town to the most convenient parking location,

thus reducing congestion, delays and ‘search-time’ for drivers.

8.4.2 Depending upon budgets available and the prioritisation against other Council traffic

and parking projects, this would be seen as a short-medium term improvement carried

out over a 1-2 year time period.

8.4.3 It is concluded that a review / audit be undertaken of :

Advanced direction signing (signs on the approaches / periphery of the town) ;

Individual car parks location signing (‘P’ signing) ;

Signing and road markings within car parks.

8.5 Variable Message Signing

8.5.1 This would be a considerably expensive improvement at £175k and seen as perhaps a

long-term improvement if considered worthy of further investigation by the Council. It is

understood that for reasons of aesthetics, the introduction of VMS may be seen as a

detractor from the historic character of the town, and may not be entirely suitable in

some areas of the town including the conservation areas. However, in future years if

budgets allow, a minimised VMS scheme on the approaches to the town designed to

give advance information could be considered.

8.6 Off-Street and On-Street Layout Changes

8.6.1 Changes to the layout of the car parks and the removal of unnecessary yellow line

waiting restrictions would conventionally be the first options implemented to maximise

the capacity of parking in any town, however observations have shown that apart from

the creation of a very small number of on-street spaces there is no scope for increased

capacity using this method. It is therefore concluded that other than the possible


installation of on-street parking bays in New Road, Emsworth Road and Station Street no

significant gains can be made in this category.

8.7 Pricing Management

8.7.1 An analysis of parking charges at 12 other tourist coastal locations with a range of

populations shows that Lymington’s parking charges match very well with the average

fees for a range of parking periods. It is concluded therefore that increases to the

current parking charges structure (including the parking clock) should not be made at

the present time, particularly since the town depends upon local employment, tourism

and visitors to maintain its economic viability. However a new pricing mechanism may

have to be considered in the future to control demand or pay for capital expenditure.

8.7.2 On-Street Parking Charges - A further measure to discourage driving short distances to

the centre of Lymington would involve the introduction charges at existing on-street

parking places around the town including the High Street. This would additionally

provide a more rapid turnover of short-term parking for ‘one-stop shopping’ and reduce

the burden on enforcement resources. This has already been considered and rejected

by the Council in the recent past and since the views of the Council and residents have

not changed in this short period, it is concluded that on-street charging should not be

explored further at this time. Nevertheless, on-street charges may have to be

considered in the future for traffic management purposes.

8.7.3 Changing the Balance of Short / Long-Term Parking Space - This would involve a

reduction in the number of long-term parking acts during the day by increasing the cost

of all day parking, reducing the numbers of long-term parking bays or the non-provision

of all day parking tickets. Each all day parking visit could be replaced by 4 or 5 shorter

term parking visits thus creating a greater capacity in the town for shoppers and visitors.

8.7.4 The consequent effect on long-term and employee parking would have to be

measured through detailed P+D ticket analysis / parking duration surveys. (At the time of

writing parking duration surveys were being arranged for future analysis). Consultations

with employers / Chamber of Commerce and Industry would be necessary to determine

the likely effect on local employment and to what extent the local workforce would be

inconvenienced from a reduced availability of all-day parking space.

8.8 Walking and Cycling Including ‘Park and Walk’

8.9 Walking and cycling measures would generally be complementary to other short-term

initiatives to discourage short distance car journeys such as increasing the cost of the

parking clock or introducing on-street charges. Park and walk schemes may be possible

if the Council can identify other public or private sites that can be used on Saturdays

and peak holiday periods.


8.10 Budgets would need to be made available for improved signing and increased cycle

parking in the centre of the town for this option to be successful.

8.11 Use of Other Council Owned and Privately Owned Land

8.11.1 The lack of available space within existing car parks and on-street means that if

capacity is to be increased other than through decking or park and ride then alternative

provision must be found from outside the current ‘stock’.

8.11.2 It is concluded that the Council should explore for additional sites particularly for use on

Saturdays and peak holiday periods in liaison with the Chamber of Commerce and

Industry and other stakeholders. Sites could include schools, the new hospital and other

businesses that do not function on Saturdays.

8.12 Use of Decked / Multi-Storey Car Parks

Although because of cost, complexity and planning considerations this option would be

a longer-term option and a ‘last resort’ to the town’s parking need, further investigations

could be made with potential suppliers without incurring significant fees. Only two

potential sites have been identified and discussed and in view of possible re-

arrangements affecting the town hall complex, this may offer the best solution in the

next ten years. It is concluded that this option should not be discounted, but advanced

as a package with any potential redevelopment of the Avenue Road site.


8.13.1 The study has revealed two / three potential sites worthy of further investigation; Ampress

Park, Brockenhurst (Station Car Park) and possibly the Lymington New Forest Hospital. It is

likely pending further analysis, that a park and ride scheme would only be required as a

Saturday service or during the peak holiday season and is therefore not likely to be cost-

neutral based upon industry experience.

8.13.2 Visits to and discussions with other local authorities are recommended to determine

whether this option is worthy of progression.

8.14 Possible Measures with Relative Costs and Timescales

8.14.1 To give an indication of the relative costs and possible timescales for implementing any

of the measures discussed (whether they are recommended at this time or not) a chart

has been included below. This chart shows relative costs low-high and timescale short-

long for the ten year period of the study.


HIGH

COST

UP TO

£6m

Multi-Storey Car Park

Park and Ride (Dedicated Site)

MEDIUM

COST

UP TO

£250k

Use of Other Council or Private Land

Advanced Direction Signing

Park and Ride (Shared Land and Peak

Saturdays Only)

‘Park and Walk’ Sites

Variable Message Signing

LOW

COST

UP TO

£25k

Changing Balance of Short-term / Long-term

Parking Provision

Minor Signing / Markings Improvements to

Car Parks and Entrances

Creation of On-Street Parking Bays

SHORT TERM

0 - 2 YEARS

MEDIUM TERM

2 - 5 YEARS

LONG TERM

5 - 10 YEARS

Chart 8.1 - Possible Capacity Solutions By Time and Cost

8.15 Conclusions on the Effects of These Measures

8.15.1 The Client’s Brief has asked that the above Options and Proposals are assessed against

the four key reference points highlighted below.

8.16 The Town’s Economy and Environment

8.16.1 Whilst the town’s economy is dependent upon a well designed and maintained

transport system for tourism to flourish, it is vital that the key elements which make

Lymington attractive to visitors are not diminished by proposals out of scale with its

environmental features (eg the High Street, the quay, and the river / marinas.

8.16.2 The key aim is to therefore implement measures which enable an increase in parking

capacity at peak periods to maintain the economic conditions but do not involve

significant increases in hard paved areas, losses in landscaped areas or the detraction

from historic and attractive buildings.


8.16.3 It is considered that the options recommended in this report involving changes to the

balance of short and long-term parking, encouraging a greater use of walking and

cycling, the increased use of land already developed for parking, and in the longer

term park and ride facilities outside of the town meet these criteria.

8.16.4 Improvements to signing with increased street clutter and the installation pay and

display machines and decked or multi-storey car parks are measures which if not

designed sensitively could result in a less attractive town centre. New Forest District

Council like most local authorities has decision-making and consultative processes

which would enable any new proposal to be rigorously considered before

implementation. It is therefore concluded that the options listed above would naturally

be the subject of special attention if selected for detailed design.

8.17 The Council’s Finances

8.17.1 On the basis that detailed calculations are made on the impact of changing the

balance of short and long-term parking, it is considered that this initiative would result in

a net surplus to the Council due to an increased turnover in car parking visits.

Improvements to signing and routes for walking and cycling would require expenditure

budgets and these costs will come from further detailed design work.

8.17.2 Similarly, financial analysis for income and capital / revenue expenditure for park and

ride and decked car parks will be required if the Council wishes to progress these

options.

8.17.3 The potential income / costs associated with the use of Council and private land cannot

be speculated upon at this stage and each site will have to be looked at on its merits.

8.18 Public Acceptance

8.18.1 All of the options and proposals described above will impact on the public whether

living in Lymington or elsewhere in the UK. It is concluded however, that initiatives to

develop signing, walking and cycling facilities and more efficient use of other Council or

private land should not result in any significant objection since these features should only

improve conditions for residents and businesses.

8.18.2 Reducing the availability of all-day parking space or increasing the level of charge for

long-term parking may meet with objections from local employees who travel to the

town centre by car. The Council would have to consult with employers’ groups and the

Chamber of Commerce and Industry on how such changes would affect employment

and working conditions and how this option could best be implemented.

8.18.3 The options for decked car parks and park and ride schemes also present potential

areas of objection for the Council because of the likely visual unattractiveness of extra


car parking areas in the town and the nuisance caused by extra traffic movements to

adjacent properties.

8.18.4 For park and ride these problems may not be a major difficulty if the site is outside the

town in a more remote location like Ampress Park or at an existing facility like

Brockenhurst Station and these factors should be taken into account when deciding

upon a park and ride facility in the future.

8.18.5 For decked car parks, which could be at the town hall site or possibly Cannon Street,

visual intrusion is likely to be a major reason for objection, and this was previously looked

at and highlighted by other consultants many years ago. It is possible nowadays to

produce very accurate and realistic computerised 3D images of proposed

developments and this could be an option for the Council if plans for a decked car park

are taken to a further stage. In any case the outline design and planning application

stages including public consultations would enable the residents to make their views

known before any decisions are made.

8.19 Stakeholders’ Comments

8.19.1 The conclusions to the stakeholders’ consultations that were carried out in July are shown

below.

The stakeholders have agreed that the town’s car parks are very / extremely

important to the vitality of the town and its ability to attract visitors, shoppers and

income. In respect of the proposals recommended in this report, the

stakeholders agreed that :

Improvements to signing at the ‘gateways’ to the town could be improved ;

VMS at the approaches to the town should be considered, but any signing in the

town would have to be sympathetic to the surroundings ;

There was a slight majority in favour of increased short-term parking space ;

Decked or MSCPs should be considered because a lack of space in the future will

affect the local economy ;

A majority of stakeholders thought that park and ride was a good idea to reduce

congestion ;

The cost of parking was considered by the majority of stakeholders to be cheap

or about right, but that prices should not be increased by more than inflation

unless parking problems become more severe.

8.19.2 The stakeholders are yet to be consulted on the contents of this report and its

recommendations at the time of writing in October 2009.


9. RECOMMENDATIONS

9.1 Based upon the conclusions made in the study, a number of recommendations are

made below which have been categorised into short, medium and long-term

measures.

9.2 Short Term Measures

9.2.1 The measures in this category described should be investigated as quickly as resources

can be made available for review and action.

9.2.2 Signing - It is recommended that a signing review / audit be undertaken of the signing

related to parking in Lymington to improve the information provided to drivers,

particularly visitors and tourists. The signing to be reviewed includes advance direction

signing on the periphery of the town, individual car park location signing and signs / road

markings within each car park. A signing design strategy should be produced to enable

drivers to enter the town and easily identify and locate car parks suitable for the purpose

of their visit. Signing and road markings at and within each car park should clearly

indicate entry and exit points and show short and long-term parking areas, which should

assist in reducing driver circulation.

9.2.3 Changing the Balance of Short / Long-Term Parking Space - It is recommended that

consideration is given to the reduction in long-term parking availability in the town

through the removal of long-stay bays and / or in increase in the cost of an all day P+D

ticket upwards from £5.00. Detailed parking duration surveys / analysis of P+D machine

ticket sales would be required to establish the current demand and effects of this option.

9.2.4 The Use of Council and Private Land - It is recommended that the Council in association

with key stakeholders (eg The Chamber of Trade and Industry) identify potential sites

around the town that could be used for parking on Saturdays and possibly during the

school holidays. These sites could include businesses that are closed on Saturdays and

any suitable school sites where car parks could be made available on Saturdays or

during school holidays depending upon access and security.

9.2.5 The Creation of Further On-Street Parking Space - An initial inspection has shown that a

small number of on-street parking bays could be created where yellow line waiting

restrictions currently exist. It is recommended that a more detailed survey be carried out

to identify in detail where further capacity can be created throughout the town.

9.3 Medium-Term Measures

9.3.1 Walking and Cycling Including ‘Park and Walk’ - It is recommended that complementary

improvements are considered for walking / cycling routes and facilities to encourage

these modes of travel in tandem with measures to reduce distance parking trips in 9.2.3

- 9.2.6 above.


9.3.2 ‘Park and Ride’ - It is recommended that further investigations be made into the use of

park and ride facilities for Saturdays and peak holiday periods. Three sites have been

identified for discussion / consideration ; Ampress Park, Brockenhurst Station and the

Lymington New Forest Hospital site, although the first would require significant investment

from the Council or a private service provider.

9.4 Long-Term Measures

9.4.1 Use of Decked / Multi-Storey Car Parks - It is recommended that decked or multi-storey

parking be pursued only after the other measures stated above are implemented and

evaluated given the likely cost and environmental implications, unless the opportunity

becomes available in the next few years as a result of any changes to Council’s town

hall office complex in Avenue Road.

9.5 On-Going Monitoring of On and Off-Street Parking Levels

9.5.1 It is recommended that the Council continue to monitor parking demand at regular 3

monthly intervals in car parks and commence the monitoring of the spread of parking

on-street to both maintain an understanding of growth over the next ten years and to

measure the success of any of the options which are implemented.


10. OUTCOME OF FINAL STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS

10.1 Following the conclusion of the study, the key stakeholders were consulted on the report

and its conclusions and recommendations detailed in sections 8 and 9. A meeting was

held on 4th March 2010 for Project Centre to present the report and enable the key

stakeholders and Council Members to discuss and comment on the findings and the

way forward so as to meet the original study objectives.

10.2 The notes of the meeting detailing the attendees, the key points from the meeting and

proposed future actions are attached in Appendix G of this report.

10.3 In summary, the conclusions for consideration or action from the meeting were :

10.3.1 Signing - Improvements to signing both within and immediately outside the car parks

and road markings should be considered subject to budgets being made available.

10.3.2 Increase parking capacity by changing the ratio of short and long-term parking - the

ratio of short to long-term parking should be increased by reducing the overall number

of long-term parking spaces, which should in turn improve customer turnover during the

peak visitor periods. Although priority should be given to short stay parking, the needs of

those who work in the town need to be taken fully into account.

10.3.3 Use of Council owned and privately owned land - the availability of Council owned and

privately owned land should be investigated to potentially enable extra parking space

on Saturdays (and possibly summer holidays) when the Council and businesses did not

require it for their own staff.

10.3.4 Multi-storey or decked car parks - the siting, cost, access arrangements and

environmental impact of multi-storey car parks was discussed and it was agreed that

any proposals in the longer-term future would require very careful consideration in order

to preserve the unique nature and attractiveness of the town.

10.3.5 Park and Ride - Park and ride was not seen as viable for Lymington principally due the

capital and revenue costs involved and this was evident from other schemes in the

region and the UK in general. However, the possible use of a scheme on peak

Saturdays was worthy of further consideration subject to spare capacity at a location

such as the new hospital car park or Brockenhurst station car park.. The Council would

look into this possibility by communicating with the respective hospital and rail

authorities.

10.3.6 Coach parking - Although this wasn’t specifically within the study brief for investigation,

the issue was discussed. Given Lymington is a tourist centre, many felt that there was a

need for coach parking facilities. The suggestion that a drop-off / pick-up point could

be established in the town with longer stay coach parking being provided in a location

such as Ampress was widely supported.


10.3.7 Planning issues - The point was made that of the issues discussed only the multi-storey

car park and park and ride schemes required planning consent, and that any sites

would need to be contained within the Council’s Sites and Development DPD together

within funding sources for forward planning over the next 10-15 years.

10.3.8 Next Steps - The Council’s Planning and Transportation Panel would be considering the

report and stakeholders’ comments which would lead to an Action Plan for submission to

the Executive management Team and Cabinet.


11. QUALITY

11.1.1 It is the policy of Project Centre to supply Services that meet or exceed our clients’

expectations of Quality and Service. To this end, the Company's Quality Management

System (QMS) has been structured to encompass all aspects of the Company's activities

including such areas as Sales, Design and Client Service.

11.1.2 By adopting our QMS on all aspects of the Company, Project Centre aims to achieve

the following objectives:

Ensure a clear understanding of customer requirements ;

Ensure projects are completed to programme and within budget ;

Improve productivity by having consistent procedures ;

Increase flexibility of staff and systems through the adoption of a common

approach to staff appraisal and training ;

Continually improve the standard of service we provide internally and externally ;

Achieve continuous and appropriate improvement in all aspects of the

company.

11.1.3 Our Quality Management Manual is supported by detailed operational documentation.

These relate to codes of practice, technical specifications, work instructions, Key

Performance Indicators, and other relevant documentation to form a working set of

documents governing the required work practices throughout the Company.

11.1.4 All employees are trained to understand and discharge their individual responsibilities to

ensure the effective operation of the Quality Management System.

© Project Centre 2010 Final Study Report A

APPENDIX A - FACE TO FACE INTERVIEW SURVEY RESULTS

© Project Centre 2010 Final Study Report B

APPENDIX B - CAR PARKS USAGE AND CAPACITY CHARTS

© Project Centre 2010 Final Study Report C

APPENDIX C - INITIAL STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION QUESTIONNAIRE

© Project Centre 2010 Final Study Report D

APPENDIX D - STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION FEEDBACK MEETING NOTES

© Project Centre 2010 Final Study Report E

APPENDIX E - HAMPSHIRE CC PARKING POLICIES

© Project Centre 2010 Final Study Report F

APPENDIX F - LYMINGTON CAR PARKS LAYOUT PLAN

© Project Centre 2010 Final Study Report G

APPENDIX G - FINAL STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION MEETING NOTES

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