Featured: Featured

Local rising star recognised at national awards

Posted 25/10/22 @ 09:10am

Group photograph (from left to right): Joel Hughes – Taranto System, Jake England (NEPP), Annie Oliver – PCM (UK) and awards host, Kerry Godliman. Joel Hughes and Annie Oliver are past winners of the Rising Star Award © Matthew Walker Photography.

The very best of parking management was celebrated at the prestigious British Parking Awards 2022 on Wednesday 19 October 2022, where the North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP)’s Group Operating Manager, Jake England, won the national ‘Rising Star Award’.

This award shines a spotlight on the rising stars in parking who are nominated for consistently making an outstanding contribution to their team and the wider parking sector. Jake England was nominated for the award for his commitment to service improvement and development.

Jake joined the parking sector when he began working for NEPP as a Civil Enforcement Officer in 2013. Since then, Jake has embraced professional development opportunities offered by NEPP and has worked hard to progress his career with the organisation to reach his current position.

NEPP was a finalist in an impressive five categories at this year’s British Parking Awards, including: the Communications Award; the Back Office Award; Parking Technology; Rising Star, and the Parking Partnerships Award.

Jake England, Group Operating Manager at the North Essex Parking Partnership, said: “I am delighted to win this award. The NEPP team’s passion to deliver innovative outcomes for the citizens within our communities – whilst faced with the contemporary challenges of the last three years – is truly inspirational and I am proud to represent them.”

Councillor Dan Land, Chair of the North Essex Parking Partnership, said: “I am so pleased for Jake and the team, a fabulous achievement! Jake is a hardworking and dedicated NEPP employee, whose commitment to his role and the sector is exemplary.”

The British Parking Awards, originally launched in 2002, seek to recognise and celebrate best practice, innovation and achievement in the design and management of both public and private sector parking. The 2022 winners were announced at the Awards Ceremony on 19 October at the Royal Lancaster, London.

For more information about the awards and to view the results, please visit: Home | British Parking Awards 2022

Jake England, Group Operating Manager for the North Essex Parking Partnership with the Rising Star Award © Matthew Walker Photography.

North Essex Parking Partnership finalists at British Parking Awards

Posted 26/08/22 @ 11:08am

The North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP) is delighted to have been announced as finalists in five categories at this year’s national British Parking Awards.

The five categories NEPP are finalists in, include: the Communications Award; the Back Office Award; Parking Technology; Rising Star and the Parking Partnerships Award.

The Partnership which brings together the local authority parking operations across North Essex, has previously been finalists and winners at these prestigious awards and is keen to continue its success by highlighting other successful elements of the organisation’s work to the judges.

The Communications Award category recognises imaginative, engaging and informative approaches to communicating with the public and other organisations. NEPP has been shortlisted for its Communications Strategy which aims to engage, inform and educate NEPP’s customers and stakeholders through several channels including its new website, social media, use of video and reports.

The Back Office Award recognises the excellent work of back-office teams working within the sector. NEPP’s Business Unit has been shortlisted for the internal support it provides to the organisation and for introducing and managing new initiatives to support the organisation’s development and ensure its efficiency.

The Parking Technology Award recognises advances in the systems used to manage parking. The innovation will be a piece of parking hardware, a device or a wider system that makes the management of parking more efficient and/or customer friendly. NEPP’s award submission featured the bay sensor pilot and the EV charging project including the new cashless Park and Charge system using MiPermit, which was the first of its kind in the UK.

The Rising Star Award shines a spotlight on the rising stars in parking who are nominated for consistently making an outstanding contribution to their team and the wider parking sector. NEPP’s Rising Star finalist is Jake England, the Partnership’s Group Operating Manger.

The Parking Partnerships Award recognises the importance of partnership working in the parking sector, with this year’s award paying particular interest to responses to the ongoing pandemic. The submission highlights the Partnership’s successes and explains how its work focuses on Communication, Education, Innovation and Efficiency, and is delivered. Examples of how NEPP delivers and supports new and innovative projects such as its 3PR and Park Safe Schools scheme, EV charging and frictionless and smart bay parking for its partners, also featured.

Councillor Land, Chairman of On-Street Parking at North Essex Parking Partnership, said: “This is fantastic news and I’m incredibly proud that NEPP has been shortlisted for multiple awards at national level. NEPP is a forward-thinking, innovative organisation which strives to be the best it can be for its customers, partners and communities and this news highlights and recognises this work.”

The British Parking Awards, originally launched in 2002, seek to recognise and celebrate best practice, innovation and achievement in the design and management of both public and private sector parking. The 2022 winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on 16 September at the Royal Lancaster, London.

Road safety scheme upgraded at Gosbecks Primary School  

Posted 20/06/22 @ 01:06pm

On 20 June 2022, Gosbecks Primary School celebrated upgrading their North Essex Parking Partnership’s (NEPP) Silver 3PR package to Gold, improving road safety for their 300 pupils. 

3PR, which represents the three Parking Rules of Care, Consideration and Caution (originally created by the South Essex Parking Partnership), delivers a positive message about school parking and provides advice and guidance to children, parents and carers on safe and considerate parking practices.   

The package includes a morning Park and Stride, a scheme where parents can feel confident parking away from the school gates – at the Berechurch Arms – to complete the rest of the journey on foot each morning. This is to reduce the amount of congestion and cars stopping to drop off pupils outside the gates, potentially obstructing the view of pedestrians.  

The school will also be introducing 3PR walking tokens, where pupils collect tokens for walking, scooting, or cycling to school. This lessens the number of cars at the school gates and engages pupils by collecting tokens in competition with other classes to be awarded the coveted 3PR trophy and extra playtime.  

In addition to the above the school will be provided with an array of 3PR resources including 3PR Hi Vis jackets, information leaflets, signage, an educational PowerPoint Presentation and much more.  

Cllr Sue Lissimore, North Essex Parking Partnership Chair, said: “I’m thrilled to see another gold 3PR package launching. The scheme now extends across North Essex – helping to improve road safety outside dozens of schools for thousands of pupils – and more and more headteachers are expressing an interest to join.”  

Cllr Martin Goss, Parking Partnership Member for Colchester, said: “I think 3PR is an incredible scheme, fully financed by NEPP, that is providing the resources needed to help keep Colchester’s pupils safer when commuting to and from school. They also provide schools with recourse needed to educate pupils, families and our local community around road safety at school gates.”  

Hannah McCann, Headteacher of Gosbecks Primary School, said: “At Gosbecks Primary School, we are committed to improving our pupils’ journey to and from school. The NEPP support has been excellent, helping us to set up the 3PR initiative so that we could engage with our local partners and educate our local community around road safety, especially at our school gates.   

“We are already seeing the positive impact because of the Park and Stride, and the 3PR Zone. More of our pupils are walking at least part of the way to school, making the area around our school calmer, safer and greener.” 

St James Church of England Primary School in Harlow are also launching a Silver 3PR Package today to further improve road safety outside the school. 

New electric vehicle fleet for north Essex

Posted 13/06/22 @ 10:06am

From June 2022, the North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP) have five new electric vehicles (EV) in fulltime operation to help administer parking rules in north Essex.  

The five new vehicles – NEPP’s first step towards a full EV fleet – were purchased as part of the Partnership’s commitment to tackling climate change. To facilitate this, NEPP has invested in an electric vehicle fleet charging infrastructure to support the commitment to a fully electric fleet by 2030.  

Three of the new additions will be used by the Partnership as technical support vehicles whilst the remaining two will be used as Park Safe cars, which help to make our streets safer for all by improving road safety at schools across north Essex.  

EV batteries are estimated to have greenhouse gas emissions around 66% lower than a petrol car and 60% lower than a diesel car.  

Cllr Sue Lissimore, North Essex Parking Partnership Chair, said: “I am not surprised NEPP is leading by example by investing in EVs which have zero tailpipe emissions. As a founding member of the British Parking Association’s Positive Parking Agenda, which core values include improving air quality, I am pleased that our goal of a fully electric fleet is underway. Now that we have invested in our own facilities to charge EVs, NEPP will become an eco-friendlier organisation where possible.”  

Cllr Sue Lissimore, continued: “I would like to thank NEPP for their ongoing work dedicating to not only keeping our streets safer, but to taking proactive steps to help Essex’s climate.”  

North Essex Parking Partnership launches new website 

Posted 14/03/22 @ 10:03am

Motorists in and visiting North Essex can take advantage of a new user-friendly website launched by the North Essex Parking Partnership (NEPP), highlighting information and support about parking across the area. 

A key feature of the new website is the improved site navigation and usability. This is due to the addition of a search bar function as well as a clearer, user-friendly layout.  

The news and service updates will now have individual pages per article, making it easier to find important information. There will also be a new look for the operational and annual reports, which will be hosted on the website to improve usability and accessibility. The NEPP supports the provision of parking and carries out the enforcement of parking restrictions across Braintree, Colchester, Epping Forest, Harlow, Tendring and Uttlesford. 

Its new website, north.parkingpartnership.org gives people information 24/7, 365 days a year on the work the NEPP do to deliver parking services across the area and how to sign up to the cashless parking scheme MiPermit. 

It details the steps customers should take if they wish to appeal a penalty charge notice (PCN) they have received. Users will continue to be able to pay PCN’s they have received, through a secure area on the site. 

Cllr Sue Lissimore, North Essex Parking Partnership Chair, said: “We know parking is a subject high on many people’s list of issues. We have designed this website to try and make it as easy as possible to use for those living in or visiting North Essex to get the information they need about parking. 

“I believe it is important to take advantage of technology to make things as user-friendly and simple for people to find what they need.”