Parking and Park & Ride: Winchester - 13 - 14 May 2009
View the Speakers' Presentations here
 The document published by EHTF in 2000 was the 2nd edition of 'Bus-Based Park & Ride - A Good Practice Guide 2nd Edition', updated from the 1993 document. Whilst this remains very popular - copies have been sold as far afield as Australia and Canada! - technologies, strategies and case studies for park and ride have moved on considerably in ten years. Working with RPS, HTF was keen to collect up to date information and to disseminate this, and other expertise at this event. The City of Winchester also offered an ideal location in which to look at how park and ride can work in a smaller town environment. The conference opened with presentations from Nick Farthing, representing Sustrans and the Winchester LSP Transport Forum, and Campbell Ross Bain from Cambridgeshire County Council who explained policies and practices in the two regions, followed by Steve Tilbury of Winchester City Council who explained the aims and objectives of traffic management in the City, and its importance to economic vitality. Richard Stacey of RPS then presented the findings of the survey of HTF Members and its implications. Since 1990 the number of P&R sites has risen significantly, and (although a small sample) 93% of respondents considered P&R to be a 'success'. He looked at the reasons for implementing P&R, economic factors, alternatives, facilities at P&R sites and other issues. He also looked in detail at two case studies - Stratford on Avon and Winchester. European examples and the alternatives now available gave a wide pallete ofmeasures which local authorities could draw on. He concluded that | there was scope for much more research and invited HTF members to participate in the survey and collation of good practice. James Bailey, Centre Manager of Cabot Circus, Bristol explained the freight consolidation scheme which was an integral part of the transport management programme surrounding the new development. Andrew Thurston presented the work being carried out by Colin Buchanan on developing Personal Rapid Transit as an alternative to the various conventional solutions involving P&R and its suitability for historic towns using the Daventry case study. The Workplace Parking Levy (WPL) trialled in Nottingham was the subject of Tom Henderson's presentation on behalf of Bircham Dyson Bell, and its potential to impact on congestion in town centres. Afternoon workshops led by Andrew Stuck, Managing Consultant, Rethinking Cities Ltd, Campbell Ross-Bain, Park & Ride Operations Manager, Cambridgeshire County Council and Dave Chapman, Consultant, RPS offered delegates an opportunity to discuss managing mobility scooters as well as sustainable transport strategies for historic towns and whether P&R was always the answer. In conclusion, Sam Howes, HTF Chair said: "P&R is not the solution to all problems but can be part of a pallete of measures. The Park & Ride Benchmarking Forum" he added "offered a useful point of reference to authorities considering P&R issues". It was agreed that new technologies and strategies should all be considered - including freight consolidation and WPLs - when developing integrated transport strategies in historic towns and cities. | |
BDB Road User Charging Bulletin April 2009 issue pdf (167KB) To receive further FREE issues please contact: tomhenderson@bdb-law.co.uk |
Tom Henderson of Bircham Dyson Bell, who spoke at the conference has kindly made available the two latest editions of their regular bulletin, containing highways related issues such as road charging, workplace parking, and traffic management: