Mid Ulster councillors agree to crackdown on pavement parking

MID Ulster District Council is to call for a “multi-agency” approach to tackle the problem of inconsiderate pavement parking.

At a meeting of the local authority’s environment committee were told the Department for Infrastructure has launched a consultation on inconsiderate pavement parking just before Christmas and the council agreed to issue a response at its monthly meeting in January.

A draft response, worked up by council officers, calls for “support measures” to curtail inconsiderate parking and notes the needs for a public information campaign to highlight the problems caused by inconsiderate parking as, the response claims, parking on the pavement is now “so common it has become a social norm”.

Dungannon Councillor Clement Cuthbertson said the problem of pavement parking is only getting worse and called for a multi-agency approach to address the situation.

“We want to move away from parking on footpaths as we know it is dangerous for disabled people but unfortunately in some estates there is no other option. If they are not blocking the footpath they are blocking the road and emergency vehicle access,” he said. “I believe there has to be a multi-agency approach to this. If you have a housing development where there is land belonging to the Department for Infrastructure or the Northern Ireland Housing Executive I think the onus needs to be on them to create a few parking spaces. That won’t work in every estate or town but there needs to be a multi-agency approach and I think our response needs to call for more spaces to be created in these developments.”

Councillor Sharon McAleer welcomed the consultation and likened the situation at present to when laws requiring a seatbelt to be worn were introduced in 1983.

“You had to get used to it and hopefully with the more attention this problem gets, people will be a little more wary of not parking in a parking space and I really welcome this,” she said. Councillor Trevor Wilson noted that housing developments built years ago will not have the necessary parking facilities but suggested this consultation response could call for more ground to be made available for such facilities in developments going forward.

Councillor Martin Kearney said he agreed with all that had been said but felt it important to note the need to prioritise emergency vehicle access in these areas is included in the council’s response. With a council officer confirming they would be happy to include these points in the response, a proposal to submit it with the points mentioned included was put forward by Councillor Brian McGuigan and seconded by Councillor Clement Cuthbertson.

By Adam Morton