Meeting of the Parliament 01 March 2016
On-street parking is a blight on many communities throughout Scotland. The issue for those communities is how to deal with people who park on and obstruct pavements. Some of the evidence that we heard from Police Scotland was interesting, as we were told that the police would not take action if a car was parked on a pavement, because they would have to determine who was driving the vehicle at the time that the car was parked. There is an issue about how the legislation that is currently in place is used. If the issue is taken forward in the next session of Parliament, I hope that the process can be used to clean up the legislative landscape, so that we can get something that is clear and definitive and will enable people to ask for the legislation to be applied.
Although Police Scotland welcomed the bill, it stated in its submission that the enforcement of parking offences would be a low priority that would be conducted either alongside daily business or during bespoke operations to address significant problems. During oral evidence to the committee, the Police Scotland witness stated that it did not anticipate police officers issuing a large number of parking tickets as a result of the bill; instead, it anticipated the power being used to address specific community concerns and during campaigns. That concerns me because we need to be clear about how any legislation that we introduce will be applied. That issue came up during discussions and is contained in the committee’s report. The legislation must be seen to be evenly applied where there are issues throughout Scotland.
As we have heard, organisations that gave evidence, such as Guide Dogs Scotland and Living Streets Scotland, identified the problems that many people have. We discussed dropped kerbs. Some local authorities, when they are streetscaping town centres, introduced dropped kerbs for wheelchair users and those who have mobility issues. We need clarity in future legislation about dropped kerbs and whether the enforcement of the dropped kerb provisions is more of a concern where streetscaping has taken place to allow accessibility and free movement through town centres and other areas.
The work that Sandra White and others have done to introduce the bill and get it to this stage shows that there is concern out there that we need to address. I look forward to the next Scottish Government introducing appropriate legislation that we can all get behind on behalf of the Scottish people and those most in need of support. We must ensure that double parking is dealt with and that offenders who continually park on pavements are dealt with appropriately.