AT YOUR SERVICE THE BPA COUNCIL
NO LONGER an eight-stone
BPA Council member Nick Lester reflects on how the industry has changed over 25 years
ow times flies when you’re enjoying yourself! It is now nearly 25 years since I started to have anything to do with parking, and about 15 years since I first joined the BPA council – and the time has just whizzed past. My first involvement with parking was just incidental, but two things became clear very quickly: that getting parking right was critical to how our cities and towns are managed; but that few people took the issue – or the parking industry – very seriously. The conventional image at the time was of a weedy traffic warden in whose face everyone on the beach kicked sand while laughing. I saw it as one of my goals to change that image, making the industry more professional and more respected.
H Public perceptions
That aim is more than any one person can achieve, but between us all we have certainly moved a long way in those 15 years. The first Parkex I visited was in a sports hall in Telford, and look at it now. The BPA is no longer an organisation with one and a half staff and the parking industry is no longer the puny eight-stone weakling. We have become a respectable and respected lobbying organisation with some significant achievements, but we still have a long way to go. We no longer get sand kicked in our faces, but maybe too many people now see the parking industry as the neighbourhood bully.
Becoming a more professional industry is a major issue, and will be another big step forward when completed, but this is about us looking inward at ourselves. We still
36 AUGUST 2012
Becoming a more professional industry
is a major issue, and will be another big step forward when completed
WEAKLING
have a major task to persuade the public of the importance of parking and parking management and the fact we are behaving responsibly in addressing this. There is still a long way to go, as shown by the comments on parking in the Portas Review and the Welsh and Scottish decision not to charge for hospital parking.
The bigger picture
This leads me to my other interest within the BPA, which is to get a similar approach across Europe. The BPA is the biggest member of the European Parking Association (EPA) and, in many ways, the EPA of today resembles the BPA of 15 years ago. There is a need for a greater understanding of the role and importance of parking policies in almost every country in Europe, as well as a need for the parking industry across Europe to improve the quality of its operations and increase its professionalism. The BPA has much to offer and learn from the other parking associations in Europe and I am pleased the BPA council has taken up this challenge. I have been privileged to have the support of Council as the president of EPA and there will be benefits on all sides. I have seen politicians change their attitude from one of mild derision – 20 years ago, one said to me: ‘Do we really need a committee for parking?’ – to one of recognition of this difficult issue. Once these politicians are proud to be responsible for parking, then much of our job will be done.
ABOUT the AUTHOR: Nick Lester is corporate director of services at London Councils
www.britishparking.co.uk
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