Over the last few decades as traffic and number of cars has increased dramatically in all cities, towns and villages, parking on or half on pavements has become common practice.

Photo: PedestrianSafety.org

Most towns, cities and villages were not designed to accommodate today’s high traffic levels, but in many locations, especially those residential areas with narrow roads and no driveways, the pavement is the only place to park without obstructing the carriageway.

While this may enable the flow of traffic, it does present significant danger to pedestrians, who are often forced onto the carriageway and into the flow of traffic in order to negotiate their way around parked cars.

Since 1974, parking on pavements, with certain exceptions, has been prohibited in Greater London by the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1974, while the reverse applies to most towns and villages in England, where parking on pavements and verges is permitted unless specifically prohibited by a local authority.

As part of its wider agenda to improve accessible transport, the DfT is seeking views on pavement parking through a consultation process being managed by the Transport Committee. View the consultation and key points here.

Limpsfield Parish Council’s response and thoughts on pavement parking can be downloaded below, as drafted by Cllr Bob Harvey and Neighbourhood Plan Committee Co-optee, Ted Beresford-Knox.

What do you think about parking on pavements? You can take the online survey until November 22nd 2020 when the consultation period ends.

Feature image: Living Streets