The Off Street Car Parking Function transferred to the Council from the then Department for Regional Development (DRD) on 1 April 2015 as a consequence of the Review of Public Administration and Local Government Reform.

At present Mid Ulster District Council operates 21 off street car parks in the following towns and villages throughout the District: 
  • Castledawson (1 car park)
  • Clogher (1 car park)
  • Coalisland (2 car parks)
  • Cookstown (4 car parks)
  • Dungannon (5 car parks)
  • Fivemiletown (2 car parks)
  • Maghera (2 car parks)
  • Magherafelt (4 car parks)
In 2016 Council commissioned consultants to help develop a ten year Off Street Car Park Strategy and Action Plan for Mid Ulster, a document that sets out how we can provide quality off street parking provision.   In developing the Strategy we have engaged with a number of key stakeholders including Transport NI (within DfI), Translink, Cookstown Town Centre Forum, Dungannon Regeneration Partnership, and Magherafelt Town Centre Partnership.
 
We would now like to have your views on Option 4 of the draft strategy and action plan.

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* 1. OBJECTIVES

A set of objectives for the parking strategy have been developed. These primarily consider the Council’s economic, social and environmental objectives as follows:

·         Ensuring a consistency of approach to parking across the District

·         Providing an appropriate level of parking to support economic vitality 

·         Ensuring that parking takes place in appropriate locations

·         Minimising the potentially negative impacts of parking on residential communities 

·         Providing high quality parking and information, ideally through technology

·         Providing parking for all types of users

  Strongly agree Agree Neither agree/disagree Disagree Strongly disagree
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the objectives?
To what extent do you agree or disagree the objectives are achievable?

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* 2. PARKING FEATURES AND STANDARDS

Some car parks perform different functions from others and key features must be considered to ensure car parks are fit for purpose. When thinking about parking, which of the features below are most important to you? (Please rank in order from 1 being most important to 9 being least important).

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* 3. PARKING FEATURES AND STANDARDS

There are a number of nationally recognised car parking accreditation standards which can be sought to reflect high quality parking provision and user experience (e.g. Park Mark or Disabled Parking Accreditation)

  Strongly agree Agree Neither agree/disagree Disagree Strongly disagree
To what extent do you agree or disagree with investment in obtaining recognised car parking accreditation standards in Council’s Off Street Car Parks?
To what extent do you agree or disagree accreditation standards are achievable?

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* 4. PARKING FEATURES AND STANDARDS

In addition to seeking Disabled Parking Accreditation as detailed above, it is recommended that the Council review the number of disabled spaces provided in each of their car parks and compare them with guidance to ensure that a suitable number of spaces is required. This should also consider individual space size.

  Strongly agree Agree Neither agree/disagree Disagree Strongly disagree
To what extent do you agree or disagree with proposals to improved park accessibility for users?

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* 5. OUR APPROACH: MAGHERAFELT TOWN CENTRE

There are a number of proposals for the Council car parks in Magherafelt Town Centre as follows. Please indicate to what extent you agree or disagree with the proposals as laid out below. 

  Strongly agree Agree Neither agree/disagree Disagree Strongly disagree
a. King Street – Free parking maintained, subject to current demand, as its located further away from the town centre it's better suited to all day parkers. 
b. Central – Free parking to be removed and all spaces to become charged due to its proximity to the town centre. The tariffs changed to be consistent with other town centre car parks, and Pay on foot implemented reducing the need for enforcement. 
c. Union Road – The number of free parking spaces to be reduced to better manage parking turnover and all spaces to become charged due to its proximity to the town centre.
d. Union Road - The area between Castledawson Road and the bus station should be reallocated as disabled and parent and child spaces, and Pay on foot pilot scheme implemented reducing the need for enforcement. 
e. Rainey Street – Reallocate more spaces as disabled and parent and child spaces. Remove pay & display parking as far as practically possible; introduce Pay on foot through a redesigned layout including access/egress with the centre car park.

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* 6. OUR APPROACH - COOKSTOWN TOWN CENTRE

There are a number of proposals for the Council car parks in Cookstown Town Centre as follows. Please indicate to what extent you agree or disagree with the proposals as laid out below.

  Strongly agree Agree Neither agree/disagree Disagree Strongly disagree
a. Loy Street - Free parking maintained, subject to current demand, as it is located further away from the town centre it is better suited to all day parkers.
b. Union Place – Free parking to be removed and all spaces to become charged due to its proximity to the town centre. Pay on foot system to be implemented through a redesigned layout to provide a better user experience.
c. Orritor Street – Free parking maintained, subject to current demand, with capacity to accommodate transfer from the adjacent Burn Road.
d. Burn Road – Free parking to be removed and all spaces to become charged due to its proximity to the town centre. Pay on foot system to be implemented through a redesigned layout, including linkage to Orritor Street car park.

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* 7. OUR APPROACH - DUNGANNON TOWN CENTRE

There are a number of proposals for the Council car parks in Dungannon Town Centre as follows. Please indicate to what extent you agree or disagree with the proposals as laid out below.

  Strongly agree Agree Neither agree/disagree Disagree Strongly disagree
a. Scotch Street – Free parking maintained, subject to current demand.
b. Perry Street – Free parking to be removed and all spaces to become charged due to its proximity to the town centre.
c. Castle Hill – Charged parking to be retained due to its proximity to the town centre.
d. Ann Street – Charged parking to be retained in Ann Street East, with Ann Street West site to be redeveloped with replacement space to be provided.

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* 8. OUR APPROACH - SMALLER TOWNS AND VILLAGES

There are a further eight Council car parks located in Castledawson, Clogher, Coalisland, Fivemiletown and Maghera. Analysis of the usage of the eight car parks that the Council is responsible for has shown that the majority of them operate with ample spare capacity. The exception to this would appear to be the Cornmill/Lineside site in Coalisland which may be approaching capacity.

In Maghera and Coalisland, which are the next two largest towns after Magherafelt, Cookstown and Dungannon, there are forthcoming Public Realm schemes which should consider parking provision.  It is not recommended at this time that changes to these car parks in terms of time limits or charges are considered, unless there are changes in current demand.  Improvements to features and standards will be considered.

  Strongly agree Agree Neither agree/disagree Disagree Strongly disagree
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the proposals for the Smaller towns and Villages?

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* 9. OTHER STAKEHOLDERS

Transport NI retain control of on-street car parking in addition to other highway responsibilities. Whilst Transport NI do not currently have plans to alter provision in Mid Ulster, it is recommended that this is kept under regular review, including regular monitoring of parking acts.

Translink operate a number of bus services in the District, many of which operate via dedicated Park and Ride sites. It is recommended that Translink continue to monitor the usage of these sites to identify trends in relation parking and the town centres.

There are a number of private car park operators who provide parking for general users or as part of retail developments. These stakeholders also have a part to play in ensuring that parking ‘works’ in each of the towns. 

All stakeholders should seek to work collaboratively with the to ensure that the parking offer within each town is appropriate.

  Strongly agree Agree Neither agree/disagree Disagree Strongly disagree
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the proposals for Stakeholders to monitor demand regularly and work collaboratively?

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