Vocal Voices

The double edged sword is out again. This time it is the LGA and pavement parking.

It is calling for councils to have more powers over parking on, or partly on, pavements.

It is a tricky one because many of our roads were not designed with parking in mind. If part-on, part-off parking was not the norm on some of my local roads they would become blocked to all traffic. There is usually enough path left for a pedestrian, even one with a buggy, but it is a problem nonetheless.

The danger is that if councils are given unfettered powers the zealots in their Highways Agencies will go as much over the top with them as they have done with speed humps and bumps. They are already using the lives at risk, blind, infirm, parents and children, wheelchair heart string tugs as levers to get those powers.

WM, they have already done this. Once with my car and once with my motorcycle in London. They were claiming a law which only works if you have at least one wheel on the road (I didn't in either case and in neither case was my vehicle blocking the road). I challenged both times. The first time I capitulated at £150.

The second time I was really incensed as there was no way in hell I was blocking anything and I had to capitulate at £400 when the bailiffs threatened to come in and just "legally" steal stuff.

I even tried a small claims court action to recover the costs and that failed too.

This is already alive and in place and is being abused to the hilt. Expect it to spread. The second council was making £500m per year out of fines.

Yes, London already has the powers, it is the rest of England and Wales wanting to catch up - not sure about Scotland or NI. As the LGA states, councils can obtain the powers on a case by case basis but it is time-consuming, bureaucratic and expensive.

What they are after is the power to act "after consultations with the local community" but of their own accord. We all know where this will go - power to their heads.

I do recognise that there is a problem in some areas, but I am not sure blanket bans are the answer.

On one of the main roads near where I live there are cars parked on the pavement. None of the wheels are in the road. These are outside large detached houses as there is not enough room on the drive for the car. Also there is a bus lane so obstructing that would lead to a fine. Not much pedestrian traffic but it seems to be increasing.
Our car is on the drive unless we are going out. Parked with two wheels on the road.

I'm surprised they're not yet having a go at cars parked with 4 wheels on the roadway - but effectively completely blocking the cycle lane. A lot of that in the Sutton Coldfield area .....

Those two or three examples show that here is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Headingley has loads of Victorian brick and stone terraces. They were built with roads just wide enough for horse drawn carriages to pass, but the pavements are quite wide. The front yards were big enough for a perambulator and a seat for nanny. At the back is what we call a "ginnel" just wide enough for a dust cart.

People on both sides of a road now park half on-half off the pavement to allow for through traffic. It is an ad hoc solution that works, but you can bet the council will use any new powers to screw it up.