Planning applications and Parking Eye

Apollonia

Thanks to the thread about Aldi and PE I will be speaking to my local council planning department on Monday.

I have been online and looked at the original planning application and consent for a 'retail premises and car park' in my town (not saying where or who!). The car park is now 'controlled' by Parking Eye. According to PE signs it is a free carpark for 'Shop Name' customers only for 1.5 hours.

Yes, I have had several letters from PE and the last was a Letter Before Action. I really, really, really, hope they take me to court because the planning application includes the following:

10.2 The forecast maximum parking demand for these proposals amounts to some 60 vehicles, which can be accommodated within the proposed car park, in addition to the 10 spaces to be provided for local business use.

From a council memorandum:

The 'Shop Name' scheme secures an increase in the net number of parking spaces and also safeguards the continued public use of those spaces for a time likely to be limited to 2 hours maximum stay.

Shopping in the store will not be a pre-requisite of using the car park although, in practice, most people using it are likely to make linked trips

My bold in both quotes.

I have to say, I did punch the air and shout 'YES'!! when I read that last paragraph. :rotfl:

It was a bit of a slog looking at the online documents but well worth it to find this information.

Bring it on Parking Eye, you will lose... again! :T


PS Thanks to the regulars on here for all their hard work and advice. I would never have thought of planning applications if I hadn't read this board.

Orford

The two quotes sound as if they are taken from either the planning application or planning assessment. Although useful, what really matters is the conditions attached to the actual planning consent.

Coupon-mad

Well done on finding that information, even if they are only memos they are there in black and white from the Council and the Store's Head Office are going to find it hard not to cancel your fake PCN!

Write a very strong complaint to the CEO of the store and leave him no wriggle room.

Also put it in the local paper like the Portslade Aldi case which was in the Brighton Argus, where the PPC not only unlawfully reduced the parking time but also tried putting up a new sign that said 'Aldi customers only' (which had to be torn down within a week after another poster here complained to the Council!). Us Brighton area 'Parking Gurus' don't miss much!

trisontana

Over on their Facebook page Aldi are reassuring users of a nearby nursery in Knutsford that they will be exempt from PE tickets when they drop of and pick up their children, as per their agreement with the local council. How this will be implemented is a total mystery as the car park is only remotely monitored by PE's cameras. Even if a list of car registrations are supplied, that falls down if a different car is used one day.

Apollonia

Orford wrote: »

The two quotes sound as if they are taken from either the planning application or planning assessment. Although useful, what really matters is the conditions attached to the actual planning consent.

The entire file for this shop & car park is nearly 500 pages. I looked at more than 200 pages that were dated AFTER the two documents quoted and there were no changes to details for the use of the car park. The only conditions mentioned later in connection to the car park were about planting trees and other soft landscaping to make the area more attractive.

As I said, I will be speaking to the council on Monday and maybe see if the local press would be interested. I don't really want to write to the CEO just to get my PCN cancelled - what about all the people who don't know about fake PCNs? I'd rather spread the word!


(I just 'previewed' my post. I can't believe I'm admitting that I've spent my Friday night reading nearly 500 pages of council planning applications/minutes of meetings etc!! )

Umkomaas

(I just 'previewed' my post. I can't believe I'm admitting that I've spent my Friday night reading nearly 500 pages of council planning applications/minutes of meetings etc!! )

It's amazing how this stuff drives you on. It keeps me up past midnight and the iPad is switched on first thing in the morning.

Hopefully between us we can make the country a parking scammer-free environment.

bazster

Apollonia wrote: »

I don't really want to write to the CEO just to get my PCN cancelled

Perhaps you could write a strong letter of complaint to him/her/it after you've put the ticket to bed, and explaining all the reasons why (i) the ticket should never have been issued (ii) Aldi should never have got into bed with PE and (iii) why you will never shop at Aldi again (doesn't matter if the last bit isn't true, they don't know that).

Half_way

Although there is a lot of stuff aimed at thwarting parking eye, in my opinion the ones who should be facing the full force of any action should be whatever company it is that decided to get these parking companies onto their land - such as ALDI.
Parking eye are ALDIS agents acting for them and upon ALDI's behalf, therefore it is ALDI who should be facing the heat for parking eyes actions.

Stroma

I agree with that, we all know that parking eye and other parking companies are scammers so expect nothing else. But it's the people and companies who engage them that should face the ire of the public.

As we can see on Aldi's Facebook page people are expressing their anger at them, and they fully deserve it! Their generic answers insult the intelligence of their customers.

I can see this happening at B&Q next as they are another company with these lot in, can't think of who else they act on a national level for, but expect people to get their point across on social media sites.

bazster

Stroma wrote: »

I agree with that, we all know that parking eye and other parking companies so expect nothing else. But it's the people and companies who should face the ire of the public. As we can see on Aldi's Facebook page people are expressing their anger at them, and they fully deserve it! Their generic answers insult the intelligence of their customers.

I can see this happening at B&Q next as they are another company with these lot in, can't think of who else they act on a national level for, but expect people to get their point across on social media sites.

The Range. Their smug brush-offs are much more annoying than even Aldi's.

trisontana

As has been illustrated on here time and time again, most people who work for the supermarket chains, whether it's the local store manager or senior management, haven't got a clue when it comes to private parking. This is why the likes of PE or Smart can go to them, promise a solution to a non existent parking problem, and then rake in the money, while the supermarket gets all the flack.