The Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 introduced a national ban on pavement parking, double parking and parking on dropped kerbs. Local authorities now have the power to enforce these parking prohibitions.
The City of Edinburgh Council appointed Project Centre to carry out a study of the roads within the Council’s boundaries to improve understanding of the city roads, particularly areas of proposed enforcement.
The study identified:
Where pavement parking took place.
Places to implement pavement parking mitigation.
What mitigation measures the Council could consider if the legislation’s enforcement doesn’t achieve its intended aims.
Process
To provide structure to the study process and enable early decisions, we separated the initial assessment and detailed analysis. This included a desktop assessment of the adopted roads in Edinburgh that the Council wanted us to assess to determine whether pavement parking was taking place.
We created a spreadsheet with tabs for each city ward and included an individual record for each segment if the road was split in the Council’s Geographic Information System database.
After gathering the information and setting up the spreadsheet, we performed a series of checks to assign a Red, Amber or Green (RAG) classification to each road.
Red – Significant levels of pavement parking currently taking place and may need consideration of mitigation measures.
Amber – Moderate levels of pavement parking currently taking place; however, pavement parking could be prohibited with minimal impact.
Green – No pavement parking taking place and pavement parking can be prohibited.
As different team members often carry out desktop studies, this methodology enabled an objective preliminary RAG classification based on factual data, minimising subjectivity.
Outcome
Our methodology enabled the production of a database that could bring multiple benefits to The City of Edinburgh Council. These included:
A database of the worst-affected roads by pavement parking, which will future-proof and streamline further study, monitoring and maintenance.
The identification of different traffic management features on the same road. These features would be specific to suit each segment’s circumstances.
A robust record of geographical information, supporting the Council with future monitoring of pavement parking and other traffic management measures.
A detailed visual output which will ease communication between relevant stakeholders. This will also help optimise public engagement and improve acceptance of the measures taken.
Next steps
NSL has provided The City of Edinburgh Council with decriminalised parking enforcement (DPE) services since 2004. While the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 legislation went through approval, a dedicated Training Officer created a council-approved training programme that our parking attendants in Edinburgh have completed. This training gives them the expertise to effectively enforce parking contraventions, aligning with the latest legislation and the Council’s specific guidance.
Since passing the act in December 2023, our dedicated team of parking attendants have issued more than 2,300 warning notices to motorists for parking on the pavement and started enforcing at the end of January 2024.
“Project Centre has demonstrated a well-organised approach and developed a robust methodology. They are providing a friendly and professional service and are delivering the project on budget.”
Gavin Sherriff, Project Manager, The City of Edinburgh Council
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