The Oldham Liberal Democrats are proposing the Council gets ready to tackle nuisance pavement parking by preparing now for future legislation.
A motion has been tabled by Lib Dem councillors Dave Murphy and Chris Gloster for consideration at the next full meeting of Oldham Council (14 July 2021).
The Department of Transport carried out a consultation about pavement parking that ended in November last year. It is expected that the government will soon give local councils new powers to tackle problem parking, and the Liberal Democrats want to be ready.
Councillor Dave Murphy explained: “The government consulted about a range of ‘options for change’ in the way that pavement parking is regulated. We made clear in our response that we opposed a blanket ban on all pavement parking as this is simply not fair and realistic in a borough where so many of our motorists live in terraced houses on narrow streets. It would also be very time consuming and expensive for the local authority to enforce.
“Instead we want to see specific enforcement powers granted to local Councils to enable them to deal more effectively with pavement parking when it becomes a real nuisance to pedestrians, particularly residents with sight loss, other disabilities or infirmities, or using pushchairs. We are keen to see the outcome of the consultation as soon as possible, as it now overdue.”
To make ready for any new legislation, the Liberal Democrat motion calls for all councillors to become involved in a survey to identify problem parking spots in their ward and for officers to identify a new strategy to tackle the nuisance.
Councillor Chris Gloster, a retired traffic police officer, said: “We want all ward councillors to be consulted in order to create a boroughwide map of troublesome pavement parking spots in advance of new legislation. This is a common-sense proposal that draws on the local knowledge of our ward members as local leaders, gained as a result of information from their constituents.”
“We also want officers to prepare a report to a future council meeting outlining what steps they propose to take to tackle this issue when new enforcement measures become available. This will mean we can hit the ground running as soon as the law allows.”