Controlled Parking Zone to be extended to relieve continued pressure for space
Picture your typical tenement building. What do you see? Three floors perhaps and two or three flats per floor? That’s up to nine flats in an average-sized tenement.
Now picture a typical Edinburgh residential street.
It was probably built in Victorian times.
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There’s little or no room for off-street parking. In front of your typical tenement building, how much room do you think there is for cars to park?
| RESERVED: Parking for residents and shoppers.This article is the second of a series on the Controlled Parking Zone extension. The scheme is being rolled out from summer 2006 to November 2007. Check on the maps here to see if your area is part of the extension. Call us for more info on 0131 200 2310 anytime from 8am to 8pm. |
Probably four spaces at maximum, right?
Add to this that often even those streets without tenements are experiencing heavy commuter parking. Finally add in local businesses, some of which rely on people being able to park close to them to come and shop.
That’s the situation we’re faced with as our city becomes more and more successful – growing pains, you might call them.
And unfortunately there’s no easy solution which will please everyone all the time.
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That’s why we’re extending the Controlled Parking Zone. We believe local residents should be given priority to park near their homes, while shops need guaranteed parking spaces for their customers.
The new zones will have permit bays and shared-use bays for residents and their visitors, and pay and display bays near shops. This will ensure a regular turnover of parking spaces near shops, always giving customers quick and easy access.
Why are there parking controls in city centres around the world? In most city centres, there is a strong demand for parking and loading from many groups – residents, shoppers, visitors, delivery trucks and more. Add to the mix the thousands of people who descend on city centres every weekday to get to work and you can see the demands placed on city centre roads. Parking controls encourage only those who REALLYneed to drive to work to take their vehicles. Without this, can you imagine how congested our roads would be? Already more than a million vehicles enter Edinburgh every week even with the many people who take the bus (30 per cent), walk (20 per cent) and cycle (5 per cent). |
Residents of the new zones will be able to buy low-cost visitor permits, allowing those who visit them by car to use residents’ and shared use parking bays.
There are also special arrangements for people with care needs, so ask if you think you or a relative may qualify.
Commuters will no longer be able to park all day for free and visitors will have limited daytime paid parking. We are trying our best to provide for this group with three park and rides, with two more to come, one of the best bus services in the UK, great rail links, and trams in the pipeline for 2010.
During the construction of the new zones, parking will be suspended at some point for a few days while lines are painted on the road.
If you live in one of the new zones, please check the timetable and watch for on-street signs when your zone is being introduced – these signs will be placed a few days before work on your street begins.
The signs will also tell you how long the works will last.