Britons want a ban on drivers parking on pavements, as campaigners urge Labour to go much further. Six out of 10 adults (62%) are in favour of banning parking on pavements, with just 27% opposed.<\/p>\n
Councils<\/a> across England will soon gain powers to prohibit pavement parking, but campaigners are pushing for a UK-wide ban. YouGov polling found backing for a ban was strongest among Liberal Democrat<\/a> voters (70%) \u2013 ahead of supporters of the Tories<\/a> (68%), the Greens<\/a> (65%) and Labour<\/a> (64%) \u2013 and lowest among supporters of Reform<\/a> (55%).<\/p>\n Erik Matthies of the RNIB \u2013 which wants a UK-wide ban \u2013 said vehicles parked on the pavement are \u201cstill the biggest barrier that blind and partially sighted people face when trying to walk alone\u201d.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cPavement parking forces blind and partially sighted people into the road and potentially into the path of moving vehicles they can\u2019t see. This is stressful and highly dangerous for both pedestrians and drivers and causes wider issues for wheelchair users, guide dog owners and parents with prams.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Matthies added: \u201cIt\u2019s disappointing that the UK Government\u2019s recent proposal only permits English councils to decide for themselves whether or how pavement parking could be restricted. This can only lead to a patchwork of provision, leaving drivers and pedestrians unsure of what to expect, which is a particular issue for blind and partially sighted pedestrians who rely on consistency in their environment to allow them to get around safely.\u201d<\/p>\n Rod Dennis of the RAC said the motoring organisations\u2019 own research found \u201ca clear majority of drivers agree that no pavement user should be made to walk or wheel into the road because of someone else\u2019s inconsiderate parking\u201d.<\/p>\n Pavement parking is already banned in London, and new powers will give English councils the freedom to ban the practice.<\/p>\n Mr Dennis said: \u201cThe Government\u2019s outline proposals should clear the way for councils to prevent pavement parking where it causes problems, but permit drivers to partially park on pavements where doing so helps keep traffic flowing and doesn\u2019t inconvenience other people.\u201d<\/p>\n He added it is \u201cvital councils inform drivers that they\u2019ll be starting to enforce unnecessary pavement parking, and are reasonable when doing so\u201d.<\/p>\n Jack Cousens, head of roads policy at The AA, cautioned against blanket bans, saying: \u201cDrivers who park in an antisocial manner that blocks the path of pedestrians and wheelchair users and stops people from using tactile paving should be penalised. However, in the vast majority of cases, drivers are trying to balance safe access for pedestrians as well as allowing traffic to move along the road. [We] would recommend councils considering implementing a ban on pavement parking to carry out a street-by-street assessment. An outright ban could have a knock-on effect of displacing parking problems to new areas, causing new concerns of residents.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: \u201cPavement parking can make it harder for people to get around safely – especially disabled people, older people and parents with pushchairs. That\u2019s why we\u2019re giving local leaders the powers to tackle problem pavement parking in their communities, with flexibility for exemptions where needed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britons want a ban on drivers parking on pavements, as campaigners urge Labour to go much further. Six…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13974,1122,31,13975,13971,13972,5,13973,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-32166","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-blind-and-partially-sighted-pedestrians","9":"tag-disabilities","10":"tag-labour-party","11":"tag-labour-policy","12":"tag-parking","13":"tag-pavement-parking","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-uk-wide-ban","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116544610145945856","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}