Oxfordshire councillors want to keep parking on pavements

The House of Commons’ Transport Committee recently launched an inquiry into whether the whole country should ban pavement parking. Such rules have been commonplace in London since 1974.

Yvonne Constance, the county council’s cabinet member for environment, told councillors on Friday: “We don’t aim at pavement parking but where the streets are very narrow and people do need to park, providing pavement parking still permits access for buggies and wheelchairs, we think it’s a balance that must be struck.”

A statement on Parliament’s website states: “Parking on pavements creates real problems. For those with visual difficulties, who use mobility aids, or need to navigate footpaths with children, unpredictable hazards such as cars represent a potential danger.

“‘Pavement parking’ is when one or more wheels of a vehicle are on the footpath. As well as creating obstacles for people, councils face additional costs to repair damage to surfaces which are not designed to take the weight of motor vehicles.”

It continues: “Lack of progress in tackling pavement parking has led many groups to campaign on the issue and although it is regularly raised with MPs by their constituents, the Government has not taken any action on this issue in recent years.”

Lib Dem councillor John Howson, who represents St Margaret’s division on the county, said pavement parking was ‘clearly an issue in Southmoor Road’.

At the same meeting, Mrs Constance passed a plan for more permit parking in the city.

Magdalen Road and Howard Street will now come under a new controlled parking zone (CPZ) to reserve spaces for residents living in the area.

It was supported by its county councillor, Labour’s Damian Haywood.

Mrs Constance said: “I have no hesitation in passing the proposals for a CPZ in Magdalen Road and Howard Street and minor amendments.”

The plan is now exempt from call-in – or being reviewed again – because it would create too much work for council teams.