A plea to the Government to tackle the “persistent problem” of parking on pavements has been made by Cambridgeshire County Council.
The chair of highways and transport at the county council is calling for pavement parking action from the Department for Transport.
In a letter from Councillor Alex Beckett to the Department for Transport (DfT), the council is asking for an update on what the current plans are for any changes in legislation and an estimated timescale.
He said that In November 2020, the DfT ran a consultation asking whether a change in existing parking legislation should occur.
The county council responded and said it would like to see a ban on pavement parking being put in place, outside of London, with a new process for exempting areas from the ban without using the current traffic regulation order (TRO) process.
Cllr Beckett said: “Parking on the pavement is a persistent problem and an ongoing concern for Cambridgeshire residents. It causes safety issues for everyone; it damages our pavements and prevents access for pedestrians and cyclists.
“There are many areas across our network where we would want to prevent pavement parking, particularly where a lack of enforcement is abused by anti-social drivers.
“Currently, we must make a TRO, which is expensive and time-consuming.
“We responded to this consultation almost three years ago, so I have written to Rt. Hon Mark Harper MP, to ask for an update as we have not seen any action or changes.”
The county council is also applying for Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) powers, which could mean on-street enforcement.
Civil parking enforcement, outside of Cambridge city, is enforced by the police, if authorised by DfT, it could mean the county council says it will be able to enforce inconsiderate parking, help improve access and support local businesses “whilst contributing to the council’s joint administration overarching environmental objective to reduce congestion and improve air quality”.
