Motorists who park on pavements in Renfrewshire could be fined £100 from November after the date was earmarked by the council.
The local authority expects to begin enforcing the pavement parking ban around that month later this year, according to a report to the infrastructure, land and environment policy board on Wednesday.
The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 bans pavement parking, double parking and parking at dropped kerbs, although certain exemptions will be designated by councils.
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Local authorities were able to begin enforcing the law from December 11 of last year. It means drivers could be fined £100 for the behaviour – a fee which would be reduced to £50 if paid within 14 days.
The report said: “Whilst some authorities decided to start using the powers without having made the required exemptions, Renfrewshire will continue the process of identifying areas exempt from the ban.
“Once the assessment process concludes in April 2024, the council will promote a traffic regulation order which will ensure communities are aware of which streets in Renfrewshire will be exempt from the ban.
“Once the consultation concludes it is anticipated that the council will be able to enforce the ban from around November 2024, with progress updates being brought back to the board.
“During this period of time, council officers will work with communities to address areas where pavement parking is causing an obstruction and will encourage awareness of the implementation of the formal enforcement powers.”
Councillor Iain McMillan, a Labour representative for Johnstone South and Elderslie, said: “I think [the council] is taking the right approach regarding parking on the pavement.
“We all know there are areas where they’ve not really got much choice but to park on the pavement.
“I think it has to be a sensible approach by both the council and car drivers.”
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Councillor Iain Nicolson, an SNP representative for Erskine and Inchinnan, added: “I think the elected members are going to be key in this discussion.
“They will need to inform the council officers of what they see are particular hotspots in their areas or what particular issues there are with an exemption being made for some areas.
“I think that’s a bit of a process we’re going to have to start working up as to how we approach the parking ban and don’t have people campaigning all over the place because they want to continue to park on pavements or they want to continue to park on grass.
“We need to have a sensible approach to this and we need to accept the fact there’s large swathes of areas which probably the parking ban just wouldn’t work. It will work in some areas, there’s no doubt about it, especially school walking routes.”
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