Smart Parking in Harrogate?

Harrogate Borough Council Cabinet members are to decide on an 18-month trial of a system this Wednesday (March, 28), which would see the installation of sensors at on-street parking bays and off-street car parks in the town centre. 

The sensors, with embedded blue-tooth technology, will detect if a space is available and update information available to drivers through a free app.

If approved a contract could be made with North Yorkshire County Council and AppyParking.

The company were approached in 2017 by Harrogate Borough Council over their 'Innovation Competition Fund', which offered a town or city the opportunity to become a showcase for the company's smart parking system.

While different parts of the system have been implemented in Westminster, Coventry, Islington and Reading, Harrogate could be the first to have the complete system in place.

It is believed this could be installed by September this year if plans are approved.

The sensors would be installed to cover the 914 on-street bays and off-street car surface level car parks in the centre of Harrogate.

Alongside providing updates to drivers payments could also be made through the app, although pay and display machines would still be in place.

Through this option the driver's session would automatically end when they leave the space.

AppyParking would levy a 30p charge for paying through the app.

Currently Harrogate currently has a 'block tariff' parking model, where drivers say pay for an hour of time outright.

In council documents it however states a minute by minute parking system is an 'essential condition' for AppyParking.

They say this could be introduced after the system is implemented, with both the company and North Yorkshire County Council agreeing to trial approximately five streets for three months. This would be to check on the impact to income.

Jubilee and Victoria car parks would need to be incorporated in the long term, alongside changes to traffic regulation orders with this in mind too.

Infrastructure costs of £20,000 are expected to be covered, including the installation of sensors. This will be funded by Visa in collaboration with Appy Parking according to council documents.

A joint fixed service cost of £90,000 for the 18 month trial would be split between the county and borough councils, at £45,000 each. This covers the cost of analytics software and other features such as payment portals, alongside a 9am to 6pm support service.

One-off costs are also expected for work to be carried out at Jubilee and Victoria, for pay on foot barriers, capped at £8,000.

There will also be a further cost of £1,600 for the borough council to allow for linear parking, while £2,000 would be needed to advertise the changes to traffic regulation orders.

Council documents suggest there will be a reduction in parking overpayments, while AppyParking evidence suggests an increase in parking revenue through the scheme.

For on-street car parking it is predicted to increase from between seven and 14 per cent, £150,000 to £300,000 annually, while off-street parking will rise from between £114,000 and £228,000 annually.