Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Permits on the way after uproar over restrictions
Residents’parking permits are set to be introduced across North Lanarkshire early next year to assist those affected by new time limits near their homes.
Councillors on the authority’s infrastructure committee were updated on the project at their meeting this week – in response to a 45-signature petition from a group of Coatbridge residents requesting“resident parking bays or permits to allow them to park in the limited waiting areas in St John Street and Church Street”.
Now work is underway on developing the scheme, which will require motorists to buy the permits, currently intended to be introduced in April.
Infrastructure committee members were told this week:“Plans are being progressed to develop a residents’parking permit scheme across the council.
“A fully integrated digital platform will take some time to develop, and an interim process will be introduced until the digital process can be established.
“Implementation and administration of a residents’ parking scheme comes with additional costs, and in order to ensure that the parking account remains balanced, there will be a cost to the residents for permits.”
Councillors were also told in a report:“Parking restrictions have been in place in Coatbridge since the 1930s; the police issued parking tickets in this area through the traffic warden service until August 2011, when police withdrew the service.
“The council introduced parking attendants in September to improve conditions and encourage drivers to park more safely; the enforcement of restrictions is focused on reducing congestion and making our town centres more attractive places to visit and shop.”
A spokesperson for the local authority told the Advertiser this week:“The council is currently working on the details of how the residents’ parking scheme will operate; we anticipate it will come into effect at the start of the 2019-2020 financial year.”
The idea of permits to assist residents was raised at last month’s council meeting by Coatbridge North representative Allan Stubbs, whose ward includes the town centre.
He gained support for his call, and for enforcement of “keep clear”yellow zig-zags outside schools in the same way as double yellow lines.
Councillor Stubbs told the Advertiser:“I along with other councillors and Fulton MacGregor MSP had been contacted by residents from St John Street and Church Street in the build-up to enforcement beginning.
“They have time-limited bays or double yellow lines outside their homes and it seemed sensible to push for resident permits as they have in most other areas, so we’re getting that rolled out now.
“Some of them have had tickets for parking or are having to circle and circle to find spaces – it’s about making it as easy as possible for people who live in town centres while making sure there’s enforcement of parking.”