Edinburgh parking: Long-delayed Controlled Parking Zones finally set to go ahead
Long-delayed plans for controlled parking zones in five parts of Edinburgh are finally set to go ahead.
The zones, which will see residents having to pay for parking permits, were put on hold in 2021 after a consultation found a majority of residents were opposed to the plan.
But now the city council's transport committee has agreed to start the Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) process for the CPZs in Willowbrae North, Easter Road, Bonnington, Lochend and Roseburn, as well as a sixth, in Leith, which was not among the areas previously proposed.
However, Edinburgh Tory group leader Iain Whyte voiced fears that the new parking controls could be forced on people without knowing whether they wanted it or not.
At the committee, Green councillor Chas Booth said it had been agreed in April that there would no longer be pre-TRO consultation, but that "pre-engagement" would be used instead. And he asked whether that would be part of the process in this case.
An official told him: "Yes. The level of pre-engagement is still to be determined, but certainly we would be contacting residents and engaging with those in community councils especially with regards to their desires for what they would like to see in any new CPZ proposals."
But a Conservative call for engagement with residents in Willowbrae, in particular, to see whether their views had changed, was rejected, as was a Lib Dem amendment saying the decision to scrap pre-TRO consultation was a mistake.
Lib Dem transport spokesman Kevin Lang said: "It is important to have conversations before you get to the point of formal TRO processes, so that before you embark on what is quite a rigid statutory process you can try to come to the best solutions."
And after the meeting Cllr Whyte - who was not allowed to take part in the committee's deliberations because he lives in one of the areas involved - said no-one knew whether residents wanted a CPZ because they had not been asked since 2021.
He said: "They might not be as solidly against as they were, because they've had displacement from the Abbeyhill controlled zone now, so some of them might be more willing, but others will still be a bit upset.
"What the committee agreed to do is go out and advertise the TRO, they haven't actually asked the people who live there about it since 2021. A lot of them could be different people by now and the parking has changed in that there's more displacement from another zone.
"We should ask them - and they might be more willing to accept it now, but I don't think we should be forcing it on them if they still don’t want it."