Scotland..where the streets have no ban
Local authorities won’t enforce new laws on pavement parking
None of Scotland’s local authorities are planning to enforce a new ban on pavement parking as soon as it comes into force tomorrow.
And only Edinburgh City Council has firm proposals to implement the controversial laws any time soon.
The Scottish Government plans were given Royal Assent four years ago and mean Scotland will be the first UK nation to introduce a ban on the practice, which endangers pedestrians. But they’ve been fraught with delays and a third of Scotland’s 32 local authorities do not have the “decriminalised parking enforcement” ( DPE) powers deemed necessar y to enforce the ban.
Several counci ls, like Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland, said they won’t hand out the £ 100 fines and others suggest it could be 2025 before their prohibitionstions can get under way – sixix years after the change inn the law.
E d i nbu r g h w i l l become the first local authority too enforce pavement parkingarking laws next month but Glasgow said it will be next May before a meet-eting is held to determine
People are forced into the road and traffic
the next step forward. West Lothian and Dumfries and Galloway admitted they can’t impose a ban because they do not have the DPE powers. Inverclyde has no idea when it will introduce a ban and South Lanarkshire susuggested it favoured a “softlsoftly-softly” approach to enforcementenfo once it eventually comes in. Stuart Hay, didirector of pedestrians’ charcharity Living Streets Scotland,Scotlan said: “Parking on the footwayfo is inconvenient forfo us all and incrediblyinc dadangerousn SHAMBLES for older and MSP Simpson d i s abled people who are forced into the road and oncoming traffic. Mass exemptions seriously undermine the ban and put people at risk.”
Scottish Conservative shadow transport minister Graham Simpson said: “The SNP have made their usual shambles of introducing a measure which everyone agrees with in principle.”
To help enforcement, the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 allows councils without the powers to borrow traffic wardens f rom neighbour ing loca l authorities who do. But for areas like Orkney Council, that’s near impossible as wardens would have to be flown in from Aberdeen. A spokesperson said: “No conversations have been had with other local authorities in Scotland. The geographical and logistical chal lenges associated with sharing staff, together with the significant resource pressures being experienced by all councils, mean this would be extremely unlikely to be feasible.”
Transport Scotland said: “Enforcement of the regulations may be more difficult to achieve for local authorities without DPE powers. We have been working closely with them to encourage them to be in a position to enforce.”