December 12, 2022 8.34 am This story is over 21 months old

Councillors sick of ‘dangerous’ pavement parking

However, banning drivers can get expensive quickly
Councillors said that pavement parking put pedestrians and wheelchair users at risk | Photo: LDRS/Lincolnite

Lincolnshire councillors have found something they can all agree on – they’re fed up of people parking badly on pavements.

Reckless drivers often block wheelchair and pushchair users, councillors said as they unanimously urged people to park better.

There have been 387 complaints about bad parking on pavements this year alone, with 20 of them relating to HGVs.

Councillor Rob Parker (Labour) raised the issue at full meeting of Lincolnshire County Council.

“Pavement parking is dangerous because pedestrians and families with pushchairs are forced into the road and oncoming traffic,” he said.

Nearly every councillor agreed it was a problem, but disagreed how to solve it.

The motion was seconded by Councillor Kev Clarke (Labour), who said: “Many times parents with children or people in wheelchairs feel safer walking down the middle of the road.”

Councillor Jackie Brockway (Conservative) said the council should consult with planning authorities to ensure roads were suitable.

“We need to say to people planning new estates: ‘Have you thought these roads through? Have you considered how traffic will get through, how families with disabilities or several cars will cope?’” She said.

Some streets are so narrow, like Lincoln’s Sincil Bank, that drivers have no choice but to use the pavements | Photo: LDRS/Lincolnite

The portfolio holder for highways, Councillor Richard Davies (Conservative) agreed it was a problem but said there was no easy answers.

“Banning people from parking on pavements gets very expensive very quickly. By the time you’ve put up signs and arranged for patrols, you’re looking at £10,000 over the course of a year for a 100 metre stretch of pavement,” she said.

Councillor Colin Matthews (Conservative) added that farmers in Sutton-on-Sea actually relied on people parking out of the way.

“Their farm vehicles are so massive that when there’s vehicles parked on the roads, they can’t get through. Neither can they reverse or turn round, and they create regular log jams,” he said.

A motion was passed to work with Lincolnshire Police and enforcement teams to emphasise the importance of parking properly.

The government considered a pavement parking ban in 2020, but this has only been enacted in London.