Background 

East Suffolk Council (ESC), a local authority in the East of England, was formed through the merger of the Suffolk Coastal and Waveney district councils in 2019 and is quickly establishing a reputation for delivering great customer service by harnessing modern technologies that improve life for its community.

Choosing the Taranto Way

From the outset ESC had a clear goal of becoming an innovative local authority with a digital-first approach. It soon became clear that ESC required a suitable notice processing system; one that was both proven in the industry and provided the council with a future-proof solution that would enable it to achieve its goals in the years ahead.

ESC turned to Taranto Systems, which supports many UK Local Authorities and Private Sector clients, combining its parking sector expertise, gained over two decades of market experience, with a fully web-enabled application. Taranto helps local authorities such as ESC to enforce and manage parking violations, parking permits, civil enforcement, clamping and removal, and more.

Following a market review, Taranto was chosen via the ESPO 509 Framework – a process within which the partnership between Taranto and ESC began to build.

The Implementation Stage

Once the contract was awarded to TSL, the teams set to work on establishing an implementation plan that would enable the council to go live in tandem with the other Local Authorities in the county of Suffolk.

ESC also wanted to offer virtual parking permits, as well as ensure that the necessary integrations with other market-leaders were in place for go live including a cashless parking provider.

Lewis Boudville, Transport, Infrastructure and Parking Services Manager at ESC said: “Delivering new system projects is never easy and it’s the working relationship that ultimately ensures success. From my perspective it’s always the response of the supplier that is important. Taranto has been there the whole time and made sure there were fixes for any issues we had.”

Working Through the Pandemic

Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 proved to be the biggest test of the relationship between ESC and Taranto. However, the teams were able to react to keep the project on track because of the transparency and strong working relationship that had already established.

The course of the project had to be corrected in two ways: firstly, both ESC and Taranto had to move to remote working when dealing with the project. This meant utilising videoconferencing for more tasks than had been originally planned, such as when training ESC staff, or when supporting the council during the Go-Live period. These tasks are normally undertaken by Taranto in person, and on-site, but the project had to adapt to continue.

Secondly, the council had to reassess its plans to introduce civil parking enforcement during this time – it had to be done in the right way. Taranto worked with ESC to accommodate and implement some key changes to assist with this, including amending the Project Plan to work around the

changing timeline throughout the county for go-live, which helped ensure all involved had visibility of their dependencies.

The Results

•  More than 10,000 virtual permits issued to date, with over 2,000 in the first six months
• Reduction in back-office user processing time when approving applications
• Improved protection from fraud as virtual permits can’t be stolen
• Reduces the council’s carbon footprint from printing
• Enhanced customer service without the need for customers to visit council offices

This solution makes the whole process easier for the public, while also offering huge benefits to the council itself.

To find out how Taranto’s parking enforcement and permit solutions could be implemented in your area, please get in touch!