City council seeks ban on footpath parking

Parking on footpaths could soon become an offence in Wellington, following public complaints about increased risks to pedestrians and a lack of space for emergency vehicles.

The change is being proposed as part of Wellington City Council’s new parking policy, introduced in August, which aims to reduce reliance on private vehicles, manage increasing parking demands and make it easier to travel around the city.

The proposed law would instigate a city-wide ban on parking on, or partially on, footpaths across the city, with infringement notices to be issued at the discretion of parking wardens.

It would overturn a 2005 council decision that permitted footpath parking anywhere in Wellington apart from the central city and suburban centres, provided at least one metre of footpath space was left for footpath users.

The proposal follows regular complaints from members of the public, as well as submissions from Living Streets Aotearoa and the Mt Victoria and Creswick Valley residents’ associations.

City councillor Jenny Condie, who

holds the associate transport portfolio, acknowledged the change would be ‘‘challenging’’, but said it was in keeping with the council’s transport priorities.

‘‘Our new parking policy is really clear that pedestrians are the priority,’’ Condie said. ‘‘I think the fact the current bylaw has been in place for 15 years has probably encouraged so much parking on the footpath in Wellington. It’s going to take time for people to change that behaviour.’’

Condie said people often parked vehicles on footpaths because they wanted to leave some road space, but that practice was often dangerous.

‘‘They’re actually making it really unsafe if you’ve got a pram or something, and you’ve got to go out on to the road to get around them,’’ Condie said.

In a paper to be discussed by councillors tomorrow, the council said increasing parking demand and car ownership had led to more vehicles being parked on the street. ‘‘This in turn is causing more accessibility challenges and risks for footpath users and emergency vehicles in accessing narrow streets,’’ the paper said.

It said parking wardens would be allowed to use discretion on whether to enforce the law, based on the council’s new parking space hierarchy, which prioritised pedestrian safety over vehicle parking.

‘‘On narrow streets where emergency vehicles and access by service and delivery vehicles is compromised, then the choice must be made to prioritise these over parking of vehicles on the street,’’ the paper said.

‘‘The instalment of broken yellow lines should be considered to stop people parking on both sides of the road, even if it may result in residents not being able to park in the road immediately outside their homes.’’

If approved by councillors, the proposed change would go out for public feedback in May and June, with the council set to make a final decision on June 30.

A drive by Stuff through some of Northland, Kelburn and Thorndon’s most notoriously thin roads revealed few cars parked on footpaths, with the exception of Kelburn’s Raroa Rd.

‘‘Our new parking policy is really clear that pedestrians are the priority.’’

Councillor Jenny Condie