Edinburgh-style parking permits for Angus should be a “non-starter”, say SNP.

Opposition: Party fails in bid to have potential schemes scrapped

Moves towards Edinburgh-style parking controls in Angus should be dismissed as a “non-starter”, opposition councillors say.

Lynne Devine, Bill Duff and Alex King of the SNP all spoke out against residents’ permits during a debate on parking enforcement yesterday.

However, an SNP amendment to the report was defeated, meaning the option remains on the table.

Members of the policy and resources committee considered a report by Ian Cochrane – the council’s head of technical and property services – which warned the scheme could take up the equivalent of all available on-street parking in Angus town centres.

Mr Duff said: “If we sell a quarter of the residential parking tickets to people who live in high streets we will use up all the spaces we have created and we will be back to square one.

“If you look at the towns in Scotland that have resident parking, they tend to be the larger ones, not small places like we have in Angus and I think this would

“There was one that was done before in Forfar that didn’t work

be completely inappropriate. Frankly, this is something we should be kicking well into the long grass.”

The council has received a small number of requests for the zones in town centres in the past.

One scheme, at Little Causeway in Forfar, was introduced and subsequently scrapped.

Residents can park unrestricted in Angus in parking areas and on single yellow lines from 5.30pm-8.30am Monday to Saturday and all day Sunday.

Permits would allow residents to park unrestricted in parking areas which are limited to 30 minutes but not on double or single yellow lines or zig-zags.

The committee heard it would cost money to implement and operate a system and that entitlement checks and annual renewals would place an administrative burden on the authority.

Mr Devine said the proposal was a “non-starter”, adding: “I don’t think this is something that needs to be done at the moment. There was one that was done before in Forfar that didn’t work.

“It couldn’t be policed and people actually didn’t want to pay for their permits, so it fell apart at the seams.”

Conservative councillor Braden Davy said: “It’s premature to throw out plans altogether. A residential system works in a lot of areas where there are more households.

“Where there is local demand and local capacity, this is certainly something that should be looked at.”

gstrachan@thecourier.co.uk