Anger as 'pavement parking' consultation results still not published after four years
Campaigners and councils say problems are getting worse and increasingly larger vehicles are damaging pavements
Last updated 13th May 2024
Almost four years after we were all asked if pavement parking should be banned, Devon's blind and partially sighted have told us they feel let down.
Pavement parking is banned in Scotland and London, but the results of a consultation from 2020 into extending the powers across England have still not been published - with Wales now expected to launch its own consultation.
Mandy Darling a Torbay Councillor who uses a guide dog, said: "My guide dog will take me into a main road and around the vehicle, so I am basically walking into the path of oncoming traffic to manoeuvre around that parked vehicle.
"It is extremely dangerous," she added.
It was almost four years ago that Greatest Hits Radio went for walk with Mandy to see the impact that pavement parking was having on her ability to get around
Graham Leach, from the Torbay social club for the blind and visually impaired, says he's worried in recent years there's been a rise in the number of shared-use pavements. He warned: "You've got bikes on the pavement, you've got these people on mobility scooters I was waiting for a bus and they nearly knocked me over. Somebody bumped into me and said 'I wish you would look where you are going' but they don't think I can't see very well."
Councillor Linda Taylor, Cornwall's Council leader who speaks for the local Government Association on this issue says the Government shouldn't ask people for their views and then refuse to publish the findings, adding: "I think it is really, really disappointing.
"The whole idea of having a consultation is importantly to listen to what your residents say and then the next important step is to act on that consultation, on those findings."
She says the LGA is not aware of the results of the consultation and over the past years councils have had to pay out extra money as a result of vehicles damaging pavements, warning: "Heavy vehicles using pavements for parking actually incurs extra cost to local authorities because they've got to be out there surfacing and mending."
Grahame Flynn, chief exec of Devon In Sight, said: "Any obstruction on the pavement is hard, so that's for anybody who's in a wheelchair or with a visual impairment or got young kids walking down the pavement keeping them safe. Pavements are for pedestrians, not for cars. You could say that with those A-frames outside cafes too.
"I think the thing is, we've got to as a society start thinking about others. The person who abandons their car on the pavement outside their house they need to think about the family going to school, about the elderly person next door on a walker or with a walking stick."
Steve Darling, the former leader of Torbay Council who uses a guide dog, said: "I get really frustrated with other people who just don't put themselves in other people's shoes who may have disabilities - and park for their own convenience without realising that they could be forcing either people with disabilities or mobility issues or mothers with a pram out into the road."
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Everyone should be able to navigate their streets without obstacles, and while local authorities already have powers to prohibit pavement parking through local regulation, we have consulted on further helping them take action."
When asked, when the results of the 2020 consultation will be published, the spokesperson said: "The response to this will be published in due course.”