By Jason Lewis, Local Democracy Reporter
Southampton City Council wants to be given the power to fine drivers who park their vehicles on the pavement.
Council members backed a motion on road safety, which included urging the area’s MPs to press for local authorities to be given additional enforcement powers.
Pavement parking is prohibited in London and Scotland, but it is not illegal in the rest of UK unless specifically prohibited by a council through a traffic regulation order.
Green Party councillor Matthew Renyard said it was an “absolute scandal” that successive national governments had not given local authorities the power to penalise motorists.
The motion from Labour councillor Dave Shields also referenced obtaining enforcement abilities for cycling on pavements.
In St Denys some argue that parking on pavements is necessary to allow enough room for emergency services to get through the narrow roads - while others complain about being forced into the road when trying to navigate parked vehicles on foot, especially with pushchairs or wheelchairs
Presented to council on Thursday, September 25, it requested cabinet members develop a comprehensive local policy for addressing road safety.
Cllr Shields said: “We need to look at things like how do we enforce use of mobile phones, how we do we address aggressive and careless driving.
“I see an awful lot of that every day.
“It is not necessarily the highest priority for our pressured police officers but how can we work together?
“What use of technologies are available to us?
“How can we use our resources between the civil enforcement authority that we have and police and indeed some citizen involvement perhaps in terms of collecting data?”
Labour councillor Vivienne Windle said she received many requests from residents asking for something to be done about pavement parking.
She said: “We need to listen to residents’ concerns.”
Cllr Renyard said: “It is really important we do look to have more of an ability to enforce those rights of way for pedestrians and making sure we are delivering that.”
A Conservative amendment to the motion which included a timescale for collecting data and creating a meaningful action plan was voted down.
Cllr Shields said the timescales suggested were “impossible”.
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