So you thought parking in Trowse was already a problem? Well, it's soon to get even worse.

You may have already seen that places like out the front of May Gurney's have already been used by Norfolk County Council as a convenient parking place for their staff, but a recent document circulated at County Hall endorses Trowse's streets as a convenient alternative to parking on-site.

It also points to the YMCA as a suitable place to park and well, walk to work.

It does make you wonder how County Hall can solve any transport issue when the solution to their own is so ridiculous.

If you would like to help highlight the ridiculous decisions being made at County Hall, register your views by contacting the Leader, Alison King on 01603 622222 or email alison.king@norfolk.gov.uk.

The full text of the memo is shown below.

County Hall Car Park Proposal



Background
Following the current car parking difficulties being experienced at County
Hall, constructive discussions have been taking place between HR, Unison,
NPS and P&T. The most immediate issue is the need to reduce daily car
parking at County Hall by approximately 150 vehicles and an outline
proposal was discussed at a Unison member meeting on 19th January 2004 and
by COG on 29th January 2004 on how this could be achieved. A more detailed
proposal was supported by COG at a further meeting held on 5th February
2004. The proposal is now open for formal consultation and is available on
the HR@Norfolk intranet site. Please forward any comments on the proposal
to the email address 'carparking.consultation@norfolk.gov.uk1 or through
your Unison representatives by Friday 13th February 2004.

What is the proposal?
The formal proposal is for a rota system to be applied to car parking at
County Hall, which will involve all permanent employees and temporary
employees (with over one year's service) not parking at County Hall for one
day in a four week period. COG have agreed to support the principal that
any proposal should apply to all staff including Chief Officers, Senior
Managers, Essential and Casual Users. In this context, they recognise the
need for all employees to plan and organise their work as far as possible
to ensure services needs are fulfilled. They also welcome this as an
opportunity to underpin their commitment to flexible working.

Will there be any exceptions?
The only exceptions will be blue badge holders (disabled drivers) and shift
workers (those contracted to work anti-social hours). It is anticipated
that this second group is a small group comprising of some employees within
NCS, IT Charles House Services and those posts working within emergency
teams.

Temporary staff with less than one year's service, casual staff, agency
staff and external training delegates will be unable to park at County
Hall. Harford will be offered as alternative parking with free parking and
shuttle bus.

How will the allocation work?
During the allocation period, employees will be allocated a particular day
within the four week period when they will be unable to park at County
Hall. All allocated days must be on a day that is normally worked. Passes
will be re-issued which will identify a day of the week and a reference
number on it so the rota day can be easily identified. The reference number
will be linked to a vehicle registration number to ensure that passes are
not swapped without going through the appropriate channels.

Can the passes be swapped?
The allocated rota day will become a permanent arrangement. However, if the
allocated day is known to present particular problems for an individual,
during the initial allocation stage they may swap in agreement with a
colleague. After the initial allocation stage, if there are significant
life style changes that require a permanent alteration to the day, the same
process will apply. NPS must be notified of this change. Employees may find
the market place on the Intranet helpful in facilitating this. Alterations
for short term periods will
not be permitted. This is to ensure that the administration of the rota
does not become burdensome and allows the effective management of the car
park.

How will the system be enforced?
After an initial settling in period to be notified, car parking will be
strictly managed by NPS. This may include punitive action against
persistent offenders.

In order to support the efficient management of the whole site, a proposal
to install card activated access control barriers is being prepared which
would be installed in conjunction with an appropriate electronic monitoring
system. It is anticipated that this will be in place later this year.

What alternatives are available to parking at County Hall?
There are a number of options and choices available including:
Walking, Cycling or using public transport
Car sharing
Harford Park and Ride with the use of a free shuttle bus
Parking at Trowse car park/street parking
Flexible working, i.e. home working
Flex leave

What are the arrangements for Harford?
Anyone working at County Hall who may choose to park at Harford will need a
pass whether this is on a regular basis or on their allocated day. These
passes can be obtained from NPS or by requesting a pass during the
allocation period. A regular free 33-seater shuttle service will run from
Harford from late February/early March 2004. The bus will run every 30
minutes from Harford starting at 7.45 to and finishing at 17.45 and from
County Hall 8.00 - 18.00. Due to the requirement for driver breaks, the
last service from County Hall before the break is 2.30pm. The service will
resume again from County Hall at 4pm. The timetable is below:

From Harford to County
Hall Every 30 minutes
from:
7.45-14.45
16.15-17.45

From County Hall Every
30 minutes from: 8.00 -
14.30 16.00-18.00

Will there be any changes to the designation of spaces?
The B star and casual user parking areas will be merged. The essential
user car park will be maintained but subject to review at a later date.
The forecourt will remain in use for visitors and blue badge holders

Will the arrangements be reviewed?
In the longer term, other options will be explored to encourage alternative
methods of travelling to work and flexible working. AH parties are
committed to continue to work together to find longer term sustainable
travel options and this proposal will be kept under
review following the first year in operation. Suggestions already received
from staff will be considered during this process.

This proposal has been drawn up for formal consultation by HR, Unison, NPS
and P&T. It is seen as a fair way of sharing the responsibility to reduce
the number of vehicles at County Hall. During the last few weeks, many
individuals have taken the trouble to offer a wide range of suggestions to
reduce vehicle numbers. It has not been possible to respond to these
individually but all have been noted and have been retained for further
consideration. Following the consultation period, a final policy document
will be issued and an allocation process will begin.