Parking income misses target by £130,000

Council officials have been quizzed over a drop in car park income in Oban, Lorn and the Isles – and the failure to meet a key target for fixing broken street lights.

Figures issued in advance of a local committee meeting showed car parking income from October to December 2022 in the area missed its target by more than £130,000, and only one in four street lighting repairs was completed within 10 days during the same period, while for Argyll and Bute as a whole the total was 30 per cent.

Councillor Kieron Green (Independent, Oban North and Lorn) requested further detail on the two findings at a meeting of Argyll and Bute Council’s Oban Lorn and the Isles area committee on Wednesday March 8.

A report before the meeting said the council provides a network of almost 15,000 street lights across the area, maintained by a team of three full-time electricians and one apprentice electrician. Overall the street lighting team performs well in both maintaining and improving the network.

In this last quarter there has been 383 reported faults, which means 97.5 per cent of the region’s network is working. In this quarter, 79 per cent more jobs than in the last quarter have been completed.

The council will also be working on a street lighting capital programme of column replacements thanks to last year’s budget allocation.

On car parking income, the report said it was difficult to work out the reason but factors such as events, weather, commuting and a delay in processing of cash or credit/ debit card payments can be a factor.

“The impact of waiving charges for events in car parks, waiving charges in off-street car parks during winter festivals will also likely have affected outturn,” said the report. Councillor Green wanted to know why events such as the winter festival are not taken into account when they are part of council policy and, on street lighting repairs, why have a 10-day measure.

Council project manager Mark Calder said: “You are quite right. The budget process has changed this year to take account of the long-term suspension of parking charges, so we need to update our commentary for that.

“On street lighting, setting out standards and response times on road defects, these fall into four categories – category one is high risk and needs repaired within two hours, category two within 10 days, category three within 30 days and category four within six months.

“We are increasingly coming round to the view that the 10-day target is not fit for purpose, because it is one we keep failing to make.”