UUP MLA and Disability Rights Campaigner Andy Allen welcomes plan from Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins to ban cars parking on pavements
UUP MLA and Disability Rights Campaigner Andy Allen has welcomed moves to ban cars parking on pavements - but says enforcement and awareness will be critical to making the new law effective.
He was speaking after Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins announced she will bring forward legislation to prohibit cars parking with all four wheels on pavements, parking across kerbs which are dropped for pedestrian access and a ban on double parking.
Minister Kimmins said: “A vehicle parked fully on a pavement creates serious and often dangerous barriers for pedestrians, forcing people to step out onto the road into oncoming traffic. This poses a safety risk particularly for people with disabilities, older people, children and people pushing prams.
“My department has been exploring a number of options that could be taken forward as positive measures to address inconsiderate pavement parking. I am pleased to confirm that I intend to bring forward legislation which will ban parking wholly on a pavement; parking across dropped kerbs for pedestrian access; and double parking."
The minister said this will complement the steps already taken to prohibit parking on footways alongside bus lanes, bus stops, mandatory cycle lanes and mandatory ‘School Keep Clear’ markings.
East Belfast MLA and Disability Rights campaigner Andy Allen MBE, who has long campaigned on this issue, welcomed the commitment but said enforcement would be critical.
He said: "For far too long, those with reduced mobility, visual impairments, parents with prams, and older people have been forced onto the road because of blocked footpaths and dropped kerbs. The Minister’s action is a positive and necessary first step.
“Banning vehicles parked wholly on pavements, across dropped kerbs, and double parking is a start, but without proactive enforcement and awareness it won’t deal with the problem."
He said existing parking restrictions are already routinely ignored, particularly in residential areas and around schools.
"Unless this legislation is backed by a robust enforcement plan and the resources to deliver it, it risks becoming another well-intentioned but ineffective measure."
He also pressed the minister to explain how she would deal with what he said was the most common type of obstructive pavement parking - where vehicles are not parked entirely on the pavement but still obstruct a large section of it.
The News Letter asked the department if parking with two wheels on a pavement would also be banned, but has not yet received a response.