Scotland's pavement parking prohibitions - consultation on enforcement regulations for local authorities

Overview

The Scottish Government has been working to improve parking legislation in Scotland in order to tackle the impact of inconsiderate and obstructive parking and ensure that our roads and pavements are accessible for all.

As part of this work, the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 bans pavement parking, double parking and parking at dropped kerbs, and gives local authorities the relevant powers to enforce these new provisions.  The Act also gives local authorities the power to exempt footways from the pavement parking prohibition in certain circumstances and in accordance with Ministerial Directions.

The new powers give local authorities the tools they need to be able to tackle the issues of inconsiderate and obstructive parking which, alongside a planned Government led media campaign, will highlight the problems that inconsiderate parking creates in our everyday lives.  To support these provisions a suite of secondary legislation is necessary to bring new legislation into force and support its operation in practice.

Read the consultation paper.

Why your views matter

Consultation is a key part of this work, allowing us to ensure that the Regulations that underpin these provisions are developed with consistency, transparency and scrutiny embedded within the process.

This consultation focuses on the process that will allow local authorities to enforce the new parking prohibitions, namely the national prohibitions on pavement parking, dropped kerb parking & double parking.  We will consider matters including, the process of issuing and paying a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN), reviews and appeals, the manner in which a PCN may be enforced and the steps that may be taken following cancellation of a PCN.

The consultation also seeks views on the amount that may be imposed as a penalty charge, and provision for discounts and charge certificates as well as the keeping and publication of accounts by local authorities.

We would strongly encourage everyone with an interest in the parking prohibitions to respond to this consultation and provide views on our proposals.

What happens next

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public online.  If you use the consultation hub to respond, you will receive a copy of your response via email.

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us.  Responses will be published where we have been given permission to do so.  An analysis report will also be made available.