Agenda item

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure which advised of the opportunities and challenges in increasing the patronage of bus based Park and Ride services at the current and future planned Park and Ride/Park and Choose sites, and balancing this with the need to effectively and efficiently manage these considerable assets by maximising their usage and where possible minimising the associated cost to the Council.  The balance must continue to recognise, support and promote the primary function of these assets which was to support the provision of Park and Ride / Park and Choose services.

By way of introduction the report advised that the Council had been approached by external organisations, both commercial and non-commercial, with requests to use the Park and Ride car parking facilities. Prior to discussing the opportunities and challenges of such approving such requests details of the current ownership, management and operation status of the Kingswells and Bridge of Don Park and Ride sites was provided wherein it was advised that as the Park and Ride facility at the Bridge of Don was not in the full control of the Council it was suggested that at this time it was not considered relevant for the purposes of the remainder of the report. Should of course, the facility be relocated at some point in the future and be within the ownership and control of the Council, then any processes in place at that time for the consideration of any complementary uses would become applicable. An overview of the current role and aims of the exiting and planned Park and Ride/Park and Choose sites was also provided.

Turning to consideration of the opportunities and challenges in increasing the patronage of bus based Park and Ride services, it was firstly advised that the future A96 and A90(s) Park and Ride/Park and Choose facilities were both being designed for around 1000 spaces each.  Aberdeenshire Council were designing the A90(s) site and were including consideration of an HGV overnight parking facility to replace the one currently operating at Altens, as well as a possible weigh station in discussion with VOSA. From this it was clear that there was an opportunity to utilise these facilities for complementary uses, and where this was built in from the start the associated planning, legal and procurement considerations could be addressed from the outset. For existing facilities, and the new uses being requested more recently, processes would be required to be followed.

It was highlighted that there might be two distinct categories of complementary uses which would require to be addressed separately, as follows:-

(1)       temporary, ad hoc events which required no permanent set up e.g. promotional, community, special events, training and awareness;

(2)       permanent facilities and/or routine events which would require fixed or invasive set up, or which would require lease arrangements.

In both of the above categories, there should at the very least be no additional costs to the Council in supporting, facilitating or enabling any agreed complementary uses.  A recent request for the use of the lower car park at Kingswells had been received to undertake cycle training which, if considered appropriate, could be used as a trial for developing a process for category 1 uses, as well as to inform a process for category 2 uses.

In conclusion, it was advised that the Council and partner organisations had clear transportation strategies which supported the key element of Park and Ride/Park and Choose facilities, which the Council would continue to delivery, promote and support. Complementary uses could be accommodated when the car park sites were not fully utilised which would further the objectives of the respective organisations in promoting awareness of the facilities, as well as encouraging increasing use of sustainable modes of transport.  It was also important that the process for the consideration of applications for complementary uses must be transparent, equitable and in accordance with all necessary legislations. The Council should also ensure that whatever might or might not be developed in terms of a process, that it took into account that these sites were part of a network of local and regional facilities, with the future locations considered to be of national importance.  A trial as suggested above could be used to inform a draft process for the consideration of Category 1 and 2 uses.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to instruct the appropriate officers to develop a draft process for the consideration of Category 1 uses in the first instance, similar if possible to the school lets system;  and

(ii)        to instruct the appropriate officers to explore and report back to the Committee on the possibilities associated with Category 2 uses;  and

(iii)       in assisting in the development of a draft process to agree a trial ‘cycle training’ event at Kingswells Park and Ride Site in May 2010 with feedback on this to be included within a future report to the Committee.