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On Friday, the Club’s commercial department announced RPC Parking as its latest regional sponsorship partner. Typically, such commercial agreements are met with indifference from fans, with the general perception being positive, with more revenue for the Club. What’s not to like? Unless, of course, there’s a potential personal impact, in this instance incurring parking fees for users of the Club’s main car park. Of course, as road users, we all love free parking – who doesn’t, so it’s only natural to take advantage if possible. But it’s also important to remember that parking on private land, unlike on public highways, does require the owner’s permission. Ultimately, it’s their choice to offer up their land, or not, for parking subject to whatever conditions, within reason, they choose. Let’s be clear here: having worked in the commercial property environment, it’s fair to say that all landowners realise that they don’t live in a vacuum; everyone typically seeks a neighbourly approach to their surrounding owners and occupiers alike. However, problems often arise where fly-parking occurs, typically with combinations of local residents, commuters and shoppers. That’s fine until it starts having a negative impact for the land’s owner, its occupants, tenants, their businesses or their customers. As fans, it’s natural to presume that the new arrangement is purely for a revenue-generating exercise. However, it can also be for revenue protection reasons, too, particularly on match days, where parking at the ground is a valuable asset for the Club. Having granted parking season tickets to your fans, if they’re unable to park as they expect, then you have other problems to deal with. With recent improvements in video technology, along with the increased use of ANPR cameras, parking issues have become far easier to manage. It’s also resulted in a significant increase in private parking companies, who’ll take away the associated management responsibilities from the land owners, usually in exchange for a revenue-sharing agreement between the two parties. That’s exactly what’s happened at Carrow Road. Of course, having resolved one problem, not unsurprisingly there are other obvious consequences – fans having to pay for something that they previously got for free, particularly on non-match days. Car park usage can be for a variety of reasons: a simple visit to the Club shop, attending a Club-related event, or a business meeting, to using the on-site parking to pick up coach travel to an away game. The length of visits will vary from a matter of minutes, a few hours, or a significant proportion of the day, sometimes extending into the early hours of the following morning, particularly for fans going to an away game. None of these circumstances is unduly difficult to manage within a commercial parking environment. It’s a fairly straightforward process to install monitors that enable the car park user to enter their registration upon arrival, typically granting a one, two, or three-hour “free-use” window. Some sites are naturally busier than others and, depending on the terms of the commercial agreement with the operator, it should be perfectly possible to amend the parking terms and conditions, and pricing structure, once the scheme is in operation. The vehicle registration process also enables the operator to distinguish those visitors who’re attending specifically for site-related business, from those visitors there for unrelated reasons. The proposed charges for away fans have naturally met with a negative reaction, with the Club having opted to waive their proportion of the standard daily charge rate. The fee still exists, albeit with a 50% discount. Parking on private land is an emotive issue for the car user, and, yes, the Club is now operating in an SCR environment, but that shouldn’t be used as a justification to “rinse fans” at every opportunity. I can understand exactly why the Club is doing this, purely from a management perspective, but getting that balance right is the challenge. I remain undecided as to whether they have. OTBC