Leicester and Nottingham city councils have celebrated a partnership arrangement over bus lane enforcement, which has delivered savings and paved the way for further potential cooperation across the sector.
The bus lane enforcement system in Leicester has generated more than £2m from just two cameras in Charles Street and Causeway Lane in the city centre.
In total the scheme has brought in £2,069,257 from July 2021 to November 2014, however when offset by running costs this leaves a surplus of £1,175,979, which is being re-invested into highway and transport schemes in the city.
Running costs are reduced by the partnership deal, which sees Nottingham administer all the penalty charge notices (PCNs) and produce evidence packs for any adjudication.
Transport strategy development officer at Leicester, Steve Warwick, told Transport Network: ‘We could have done the administration in house, which would have been time consuming and costly to set up from scratch or we could have engaged with the private sector. We looked at procurement through the private sector but this had risk attached as the value of the contract was unknown as we could not be sure how many charges we would be issuing.
‘We then talked to Nottingham. They had the system already in place with the necessary hardware and the staff already trained. So we pay them the costs.
‘We are happy with the level of service provided by Nottingham and I think both authorities have benefited from reductions in costs and sharing expertise, it is an open-ended arrangement.’
A council spokesman added the number of PCNs issued to drivers using the bus lanes on Charles Street and Causeway Lane ‘has dramatically reduced since the scheme was first introduced’.
‘In July 2012 – the first month of operation – more than 6,000 PCNs were issued. Last month, that figure was down to around 1,100,’ he said.
Pete Mitchell, head of community protection at Nottingham, added that having tendered for the work and achieved savings as a result, the council has ‘looked at tendering for other work as well over the past two years with other councils across the country’.
He said the council also share HR and finance services with Leicestershire CC.
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