I've been contacted recently by residents reporting inconsiderate and obstructive parking in some of the residential streets in Blackhall. In addition, some residents had asked if parking bays or a permit only scheme could be applied to selected streets where parking is seen as a persistent problem.
In my experience requests like this tend to be resisted by other residents nearby, either because of the costs involved or the knock-on effect of restricting parking to residents only. The most frequent objection to requests of this nature is around the inconvenience caused when family and visitors call to a property, only to find they are unable to park in the street because of the permit only restrictions in place.
However, I raised the issue of permit only restrictions on behalf of the residents who had been in touch with me. I've reproduced below the response received from the service.
Dear Councillor Crute
Thank you for your service request regarding parking issues.
In the first instance our policy states that we will not designate bays or areas for resident only parking. However, we will consider requests for permit only areas which are designed to displace long stay commuter parking but not short stay visitors. To this end a permit scheme will only operate for 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the afternoon.
Permit Parking Areas will only be introduced in line with the following qualifying criteria:
Permit parking areas will only be considered for residential streets within commercial areas which are subject to a high demand for commuter parking.
Initial requests for a permit parking scheme must be accompanied by support from at least 25% of the households in the street or from a local member on behalf of the residents.
More than 40% of kerbside space is occupied by non-residents for over six hours in the survey period and more than 85% of kerbside space is occupied by any vehicles during the same six hours.
Where support has been gained from at least 75% or above of the properties included within the proposed permit area. We must advise that the cost of administering such a scheme is required to be funded by residents, and from past experience a scheme will inevitably result in displaced parking affecting neighbouring streets and can impact on a town’s vitality and economic wellbeing.
Additionally, permit schemes can often cause inconvenience to residents and their visitors and may not be considered a worthwhile solution by all residents therefore unfortunately, a permit parking scheme would not meet the criteria at this location.
Caravans
We have asked Customer Services to reallocate this issue to Highway Services - Business Support for Neighbourhood Wardens to investigate.
Untaxed
Vehicles
If vehicles do not have Tax/MOT, then these should be reported to the DVLA. These details can be checked via the DVLA online form at DVLA Report Untaxed Vehicle [Opens in a new tab].
We would also advise that if vehicles are causing an obstruction of the road or footpaths, then this should be reported to the police on their 101 number as they have powers to enforce such offences.
