PAPER A

POLICY COMMISSION MEETING

Meeting	Policy Commission for Economy, Tourism, Regeneration and Transport
Ref	E.PC.09/11/05
Date	09 November 2005
Time	18.00hrs
Place	Committee Room 1, County Hall, Newport
Purpose of meeting	Formal public meeting
Attendance	Commission	Cllrs George Brown (Commissioner), Henry Adams, Ivan Bulwer, Jonathan Fitzgerald-Bond, Charles Hancock, John Hobart, Lora Peacey-Wilcox
	Cabinet	Cllr Andy Sutton – Leader of the Council Cllr Ian Ward – Cabinet Member, Environment, Transport and Planning
	Cabinet Secretariat	Cllr David Pugh Cllr Alan Wells
	Other Councillors	Cllr Erica Oulton Cllr David Whittaker
	Officers	Ms Louise Biggs, Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Team Ms Astrid Davies, O&S Team
	Stake holders
	Apologies	None
Agenda Items
1. To agree the notes of the previous meeting	The notes of the previous were agreed
2. To receive the results of the consultation on the £50 parking permit enquiry (E2/05) – Cllr J Fitzgerald-Bond	· The iwight.com survey was completed by 176 people and gave a flavour of opinion rather than a statistically significant sample given that there are around 70,000 car drivers on the island. · The iwight.com survey showed that: o The most common length of time that people park for is for more than 4 hours (29.9%), followed by 1-2 hours (24.1%) and then 2-4 hours (3%). Commuters formed 12.1% of the survey. o In terms of a reasonable time limit, there was an even split between an 8 hour limit and a up to 12 hour limit (18.9% each). The second most common answer was 1-2 hours and then 4 hours. o The most common reason for parking in a council car park was for shopping. o The majority of people said that they would change the way they park (57.1%) if a permit was in existence. o Around 40% of people who answered the survey thought that finding a parking space was difficult; around 25% thought it was easy and 33.7% thought it was neither easy nor difficult. o The majority of respondents indicated they would shop more locally if they could park more easily in a Council car park nearby. o Over 70% of respondents felt that message boards outside Council car parks would be of use. · Several letters had also been received by the Policy Commission in reference to the parking permit enquiry and these had been circulated to Members a part of the evidence base. · In addition, the cost and types of permits available from other local authorities was also shared at the meeting as part of the evidence base.
3. To receive an update on the commissions enquiries – Lead Members	· Highways Private Finance Initiative (E3/05): Cllr Bulwer reported that the government were adding an extra 500 million to the national PFI pot. The formal submission to Government would be made shortly. Fact-finding visits will be made to both Birmingham and Portsmouth. · Value for Money Leisure Services (E4/05) - Cllr Hobart reported that the project initiation document had now been formulated for the enquiry and that the review had been split into 3 review blocks. The cost of consultants was not yet known as the tendering process was still continuing. · Value for Money Tourism (E5/05) – The evidence gathering process was underway on this project and several responses had been received. · £1 bus fare (E6/05) – Cllr Adams indicated that this project is continuing in conjunction with the WightBus project. · WightBus (E7/05) – Cllr Peacey-Wilcox reported that work was ongoing and that she would be meeting with officers on the Wight Bus project. This project was being conducted in conjunction with £1 bus fare project. Work was being done in the context of forthcoming contract negotiations with Southern Vectis.
Action required	None