Overnight parking restrictions will focus only on identified problem areas, says Chair
An assurance has been given by The Highland Council that it has no intention of introducing a blanket ban on overnight parking.
Councillor Graham Phillips, Chairman of the Transport Environmental and Community Services Committee, told a Council meeting at Inverness today (Thursday) that a review of overnight parking would focus on areas identified by local communities as problematic, requiring restricted use overnight.
He said: “The Highlands thrive and depend upon tourism and we welcome hundreds of motor caravans and caravans every year, recognising the valuable contribution they make to our economy. I have spoken with representatives of the motorhome, camping and caravan organisations to reassure them of our welcome.
“We have no intention of restricting parking generally. Any restrictions we propose will be limited to those few instances where the impact of overnight parking has a significant impact on the local community.
“This will be confined to village and town centres, and potentially certain "destination lay-bys" in the open countryside which serve as car parks for all types of visitors. We are interested in further conversations with formal groups representing the caravanning community.”
Councillor Phillips was speaking in response to a question from Councillor Andrew Baxter, Fort William and Ardnamurchan, who asked what assessment had been made of the impact of removing “No overnight parking” signs from laybys maintained by the Council and communities.
Councillor Phillips replied: “The TECS Committee approved that “No Overnight Parking” signs located in rural laybys be removed and that the removal of these signs be carried out when there were resources in the area to minimise the cost of removal.
“This decision was taken in light of the legal position as advised by Transport Scotland who also decided that these signs, which carry no legal standing, should be removed from the trunk road network. The option to retain these signs was considered. However, the legal advice was that the possibility of legal challenge against any decision of the Council to retain these signs could not be ruled out.
“The report to the TECS Committee recognised that to implement formal road traffic orders for laybys across the Highlands would be expensive to implement and difficult to enforce. However, this was an option which could be considered if there were problems with overnight parking at specific locations.
“Hitherto, there has been no formal assessment of the impact of removing “No Overnight Parking” signs. However, a number of specific problems have been identified and these will be addressed using formal Road Traffic Orders which can be enforced by the Police. We will review the overall situation in the light of a year’s experience and deal with specific problem areas as appropriate.”