Whatever happened to common sense? - Iain Whyte

Parking on Bangholm Avenue before the ban

Trinity Community Council agrees and complains about not being consulted. Yet despite their protests the Transport Committee thinks it knows best and will ban all parking in their streets.

The issue arose because of the pavement parking ban. These narrow streets always coped with some parking on just one side of the road as the vehicles edged up two wheels on the pavement. This is no longer allowed.

With cars parked fully on the road passing vehicles are mounting the pavement on the other side. The council won’t wear this so double yellow lines will be imposed on both sides.

I supported the pavement parking ban because of the dangers that pavement parking and parking blocking junctions can bring. Think of those in wheelchairs, pushing baby buggies, those with limited vision or young children crossing at junctions and you begin to see some of the issues.

However, the vehemence with which some councillors are insisting “there should be no exceptions” is unwarranted. The law itself allows for local exemptions, and I imagine it was circumstances like the Bangholms that our Parliamentarians envisaged. Streets vary and that should be recognised in Edinburgh as other Councils have done.

Yesterday, I proposed we introduce an exemption in the Bangholms to let things go back to how they were for residents. I also suggested they be given controlled parking through the “Mews” system that means only residents in those specific streets can park there. It works elsewhere as neighbours trust each other to park sensibly – even in places where there are no pavements at all.

It is also time we took other considerations into account. There are some streets at Lochend in my ward where pavement parking has always happened but was never a problem. Pavements are wide or have drive-ins through verges that don’t disrupt pedestrians. These too are now banned, meaning more yellow lines to stop buses being blocked as residents are forced to park on the road. We could easily solve this with white lines delineating parkable pavement areas as some London Boroughs do.

My pleas for Bangholm residents fell on deaf ears showing the intransigence of a council that claims flexibility as a value. That the Community Council was ignored gives little encouragement that ultra-local democracy will be heeded as we elect new Community Councils across the city.

Even the Lib Dems, who often claim to be local champions, did no more than their usual call for more consultation but only on the basis that there would be no pavement parking ban exemption. What’s the point of that?

The council does very little to enforce rules in general but everything it can to enforce rules against people who own a car. For Bangholm residents it’s not just no parking on your street, it’s no parking anywhere near as the council “knows best”.

As a Scottish Conservative I will do everything I can to promote common sense solutions to local problems and meet residents’ needs. It is a huge shame that others won’t listen.

Cllr Iain Whyte, Leader of the Conservative Group