Pavement Parking (September 2015)

I appreciate that vehicles parked on pavements can cause particular problems for people in wheelchairs or with visual impairments and those with pushchairs.

I welcome the steps taken by the Coalition Government to make it easier for councils to tackle pavement parking. Whilst there is an historic ban on pavement parking through London, outside London any local authority that has taken up civil enforcement powers may introduce a ban on pavement parking where they see fit.

In 2011, Conservative Ministers gave all councils authorisation to use a sign banning parking on the pavement without first asking Whitehall for permission. Ministers also wrote to councils encouraging them to use their powers to prevent parking on the pavement where it is a problem. Furthermore, in June 2014 Ministers again wrote to all English Traffic Authorities to remind them of their existing, wide-ranging powers to prevent people from parking on the pavement where it is a problem.

Thanks to these steps, I believe that local authorities are in the best position to decide where and whether pavement parking should or should not be permitted. In some streets pavement parking may in practice be inevitable to maintain free passage of traffic.

September 2015