A Message from Highway Management at DCC – As you will know we are being presented by exceptional challenges and Devon County Council will play a critical role in responding to Covid19.  Our teams in Highway Management and across the Authority will be essential in helping our communities through this challenge.

These teams will need to adapt and refocus to meet these challenges. I am aware of many questions already raised regarding how we will undertake parking enforcement duties. We must keep the network moving but also we recognise concerns in residential areas where people are needing to park at home more often due to the need to social distance / home work.

Our Traffic Management Team have reviewed deployment ensuring that our provision of parking enforcement is proportionate to the needs of the network as the situation develops. As a minimum the service will seek to maintain free flow of traffic by managing parking on:

• Strategic Routes: All A and B roads
• Settlement Population: Main access route to settlements with a population of 500 or greater
• Emergency Premises – Main access routes to 24 hour emergency services premises, including ambulance stations, full time and retained fire stations, hospitals with 24 hour casualty departments and police stations manned 24 hours.
• Cottage and Community Hospitals – Main access routes to strategic cottage and community hospitals as notified by Devon Primary Care Trust
• Doctors surgeries and other public buildings – Main access routes to strategic doctors surgeries and other public buildings (for such purposes as infection testing) as notified by Devon Primary Care Trust
• Bus Routes – No waiting restrictions on bus routes will be maintained so long as services continue.
• Supermarkets and food distribution centres – All parking restrictions of access routes to supermarkets and food distribution centres (including loading bays, limited waiting, and P&D) will be managed.
• Locations identified as needing enforcement to permit refuse collection.

In order to focus resources to strategically important locations the service will be downscaled removing enforcement from:

• Peripheral areas – including coastal and tourist destinations (except where identified as on a strategic route or location)
• Residential areas – including residents parking bays (except restrictions in these areas, such yellow lines and where a residential area is identified as on a strategic route)
• Central commercial areas – including limited waiting and P&D (except where identified as on a strategic route or location)

The team are also mindful of protecting our civil enforcement officers from exposure. As we refocus there will be a greater need for staff to be deployed on “mobile” beats, allowing them to operate predominantly from vehicles rather than walked beats. Staff have always been supplied with cleaning products, alcohol / anti bacterial wipes, alcohol hand gel and gloves, and we will continue to ensure these are supplied (so long as supplies are available).

Additionally, as the networks need for enforcement reduces, we are also looking at how these frontline staff can be redeployed to support and build resilience in other highways teams that will become essential to the Authorities response to Covid19.

I hope the above is of assistance, this is a rapidly developing situation and the team will continue to take a dynamic approach to deployment.

Stay safe

Regards

STUART HUGHES CC

Cabinet Member for Highway Management

   Leave a comment