Pavement parking law exemptions to be determined by Garioch councillors
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Councillors on the Garioch area committee will scrutinise a pavement parking prohibition exemption order at their meeting on Tuesday.
From December this year it will become illegal for a person to park a motor vehicle on a pavement.
Scottish local authorities are able to make streets exempt which meet certain criteria.
A large number were assessed in the Garioch area and in the report that will go before councillors on Tuesday just one street has been proposed for exemption by the local authority at Provost Circle in Inverurie.
Assessments have also taken place in the other parts of Aberdeenshire, with some already having been before their area committees and others still to be completed.
The national pavement parking prohibition is expected to come into force across Scotland from December 11, 2023 and will make it illegal to park a motor vehicle – other than heavy commercial vehicles which are already covered by a prohibition under the Road Traffic Act 1988 – on a footpath or footway.
The pavement parking prohibition shall be enforced by local authorities who can issue a penalty charge notice to the registered keeper of a vehicle parked in contravention of it.
In the report that will go before councillors it said: "The aspiration of the pavement parking prohibition is to enable pedestrians and those with wheelchairs or pushchairs to use footways without being impeded by parked vehicles.
"The default position is that the prohibition will apply to all footways but the legislation acknowledges that there may be exceptional locations where footway parking is necessary for the functionality of the street and an exemption from the prohibition would be appropriate."
Exemptions from the pavement parking prohibition can only be considered at locations which meet the criteria set out in the published ministerial directions.
The report continued: "Beyond these national criteria, in our assessments in Aberdeenshire we have, generally, only recommended exemptions where there is a viable accessible alternative facility for pedestrians either on an opposite footway or on a carriageway appropriate for shared use and ideally with a speed limit not exceeding 20 mph.
"Over 800 streets across Aberdeenshire were identified in our 2022 footway condition survey as locations where vehicles were parked on the footway or where there were signs of this having taken place.
"Each of these streets, along with others suggested by councillors or officers, have been revisited during both the daytime and evening, and assessed to determine if they should be exempted from the pavement parking provision."
If the committee agree to the recommendations, the statutory consultation will commence with a notice of proposals published on the council’s website along with an outline of the proposed exemption order and a statement of reasons why the order should be made.
If any valid representations are received the proposal would be referred back to the area committee for a final decision.
