Edinburgh pavement parking ban: Stevenson Avenue resident fears upcoming ban will lead to chaos on his street

The pavement parking ban is due to come into force in Edinburgh on January 29

An Edinburgh resident has accused the council of putting ‘no thought at all’ into a pavement parking ban, which he says will cause chaos in his narrow street.

Letters have gone out from the council to thousands of residents, warning them about the ban on pavement parking in Edinburgh which comes into effect on January 29, the first such ban in Scotland. Parking attendants will have powers to issue £100 fines for vehicles parked on pavements, at crossing points, next to dropped kerbs or double-parked. The crackdown is aimed at stopping drivers ‘recklessly’ blocking pavements in a bid to make streets safer, particularly for people with mobility problems or visual impairment, as well as parents with push-chairs and people using wheelchairs.

But one Edinburgh resident, who lives in Stevenson Avenue in Gorgie and asked not to be named, has real fears about how this ban will affect vehicles getting along the narrow street – particularly emergency vehicles and bin lorries.

The narrow street of Stevenson Avenue, where one local resident has raised concerns about the upcoming pavement parking ban enforcement on January 29.

He said: “All I want to do is raise the issue of parking. Where I stay it has been a shambles. Just yesterday morning a van tried to get past but there was no room. The driver had to knock on people’s doors to find the owners of the parked cars. And that’s before the pavement parking ban. So that will be the same for bin lorries and emergency services.

"A lot of the roads in Edinburgh are not wide enough. The council have just went ahead with this with no thought at all. I’m a Leith boy originally and my friends down there are telling me Lochend Drive is horrific and East Restalrig Terrace is a joke. They are bringing in a blanket ban. But they should have looked at the areas that they just can’t do this and left them out of the scheme. Cars are still parked on the pavements here, and they have had stickers put on them warning about the ban from January 29.

"I spoke to a traffic warden in the city centre and he told me they are putting people out all over Edinburgh keeping an eye on this, but they will not fine anyone until the 29th.”

The Stevenson Avenue resident thinks the new ban is “an accident waiting to happen”. He said: "I have got a driveway so I’m okay, but there are so many problems on this street already, before the ban. There was once talk of a one-way system, but that was in 2018 and we never heard anything again.

The view of the narrow street at Stevenson Avenue from a car trying to drive down the road.

"The whole thing is a joke and an accident waiting to happen. There are a lot of kids on this street, and cars fly down this road to get ahead of the traffic queue on Stevenson Road. And people park on the corners here as there are no yellow lines. I totally agree with the council’s new rule of not parking on pavements, but they have not thought about it properly at all. It’s going to end up being the council fighting the council shortly, as the binmen just won’t get through.”

Responding to these concerns, Councillor Scott Arthur, transport and environment convener, reassured Edinburgh residents that streets that suffer issues due to the new ban could see the council “restrict inconsiderate parking”.

He said: “In preparation for the introduction of the ban, the council has assessed pavement parking on individual streets across the city, and has contacted residents in areas where it’s currently a problem. Ultimately, drivers are responsible for parking considerately so they do no block access for other vehicles or cause an obstruction to the road or pavement.

“However, officers will be monitoring streets to check whether the changes are having a knock-on impact, whether it’s traffic displacement or access issues. If this is the case we could intervene, using available powers, to restrict inconsiderate parking. Nevertheless, there is no doubt these changes will make our streets safer and more accessible for everyone, and we’re already seeing more considerate parking across the city. Indeed, the associated ban on double parking will make roads more passable, including for our waste collection teams.”