Car parking income in Helensburgh and Lomond is falling short of its target by £100,000 every three months, a report has revealed.
Argyll and Bute Council has placed the blame on a delay to implementing new parking charges at Duck Bay on Loch Lomondside, as well as other areas.
The council took in £156,757 in car parking income in Helensburgh and Lomond from October to December 2019 – the third quarter of the financial year. This was against a target of £286,787.
For the second quarter of the year, from July to September, the total was £124,264 compared to a £225,055 target.
The number of parking tickets issued in Helensburgh and Lomond has also gone up by nearly 10% on the previous financial quarter.
The figures will be discussed at the council’s Helensburgh and Lomond area committee meeting on Thursday.
A brief report accompanying the information states: “There is a significant shortfall of approximately £130,030 due to the TRO (traffic regulation order) process not being finalised.
“Argyll and Bute Council are carrying out a full review of the TRO process to address previous issues with, specifically, the Mull TRO, which was legally challenged.
“This has delayed Duck Bay TRO, ultimately reducing anticipated income.”
A petition was launched last year when the plans to introduce charging at Duck Bay were revealed, while the furore over the Mull charges led to a personal apology from the then chief executive Cleland Sneddon.
The report also states that the total number of parking tickets issued in the Helensburgh and Lomond area had gone up from 600 in financial quarter two to 652 in financial quarter three.
On that data, the report added: “Line marking in town centre areas not complete ‐ especially John Street. Wardens covering in other areas.”
Also contained in the report are details of street lighting repairs which take place within 10 days, which are also missing their target.
A total of 54% of repairs have met the deadline, against a goal of 75%.
The report said: “Responses to reactive repairs have been affected by a combination of December annual leave and sickness absence, coupled with commitments to programmed project works in financial quarter three.
“The limited availability of the qualified electricians, able to inspect and either re‐categorise or rectify ‘dark lamps’, had caused the response rates to drop.
“Assessments are being made on the programming of reactive repairs and project works during January, towards addressing both commitments in financial quarter four.”
In financial quarter two, the street light figure exceeded its 75% target, with 84% of repairs completed within 10 days.
The report also states that the average time taken to determine a Helensburgh and Lomond planning application was 7.7 weeks – beating the target of eight weeks.
This figure is further boosted by the fact that 33 more householder applications were received than in the same quarter of 2018/19.
Well it’s not surprising there is a short fall. Before the prices were increased astronomically in Arrochar a couple of years ago I used to climb The Cobbler at least twice a week. However since the 800% increase I have climbed it once on Christmas day and parked on the grass verge. I speak to many climbers on a regular basis and the same thoughts are across the board, they refuse to pay and go elsewhere. Only 30mins in the other direction you can climb several Corbett’s and a couple of Munros and don’t have to pay any parking charges. The only people I feel for is the local businesses in the village and the loss in revenue, I certainly don’t feel sorry for Argyll and Bute Council. When these charges were introduced the council listened to know body who tried to reason with them so they only have themselves to blame.