Decision details

The Council acts as agent to Suffolk County Council (SCC) for the provision of Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) functions on the highway in Ipswich.

Occasionally, the Council is asked to suspend a parking bay(s) on the highway in order to ensure that there are no vehicles parked in the bay for the duration of the suspension. There are a number of reasons why a bay might need to be suspended, but one of the most common is to allow utility companies to excavate the highway in or near the bay in question in order to install, repair or remove their pipes, cables or other apparatus.

There is a cost to the Council to suspend a parking bay including providing the necessary signage and enforcing the temporary suspension of parking. Where the organisation requesting the suspension of the bay needs to allow their own vehicles to be able to park in it then this will require a dispensation from the suspension and there is also a cost to the Council in issuing these. As such, the Council charges a fee for suspending a parking bay or providing a dispensation in order that these costs are met by whoever wishes the bay to be suspended rather than by the taxpayer. The fees are set solely to cover the costs involved and not to make a profit.

In Ipswich, the fees for suspending a parking bay and for providing a dispensation have already been set and are as follows:

Parking bay suspension fee (first day, per bay) = £55

Parking bay suspension fee (subsequent days, per bay) = £25

Dispensation to park in a suspended bay or other waiver certificate = £10 (maximum 7 days).

Since 6th April 2020, the Council also acts as agent to SCC for the provision of CPE functions on the highway in part of the area of Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils. The legal orders made by SCC that allow for parking bay suspensions and dispensations delegate the authority to set fees for these to the Council. As such, the Council has decided to set the same fees for parking bay suspensions and dispensations on the highway in that part of the area of Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils that the Council provides CPE functions for as apply in Ipswich, as shown above.

The main alternative option would be not to set any fees but this would mean that costs that might otherwise be charged to the organisation requiring the parking bay(s) suspension or dispensation would be met by the taxpayer.

To set and impose the above fees on the highway in that part of the area of Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils as covered by the Council’s Civil Parking Enforcement agency agreement with Suffolk County Council for the same, to take effect from the date of this decision.