Election issues include parking

Politicos ignore dull but vital issue, says researcher

By PH Staff / Tuesday, 19 April 2005 / Loading comments

Car parks can be beautiful...

Political parties are in danger of ignoring an issue of vital concern to almost three quarters of the voting population, said motoring research group the RAC Foundation.

With a third of motorists having had an argument over a parking space and one in every three cars receiving a parking ticket, parking rage has spread to epidemic proportions across the UK, according to the group.

The Foundation has launched its parking manifesto, urging political parties to ensure that parking is a key electoral issue at the upcoming general election. Parking should be an integral policy in social, economic and transport planning.

Recent Foundation research uncovered that the simmering tensions over parking are in danger of boiling over and most motorists think that the Government has no policy on parking or that it is completely mismanaged.

An NOP Automotive survey commissioned for a recent RAC Foundation report shows that parking generates strong feelings and its availability, or lack of it, can determine where we live, work, shop and play.

Research from the report found that up to a third of people would consider moving home, and a quarter would consider changing jobs rather than give up their parking space. Other findings included:

29 per cent of people have given up their journey and gone home due to lack of parking.
28 per cent of people have searched for more than 20 minutes for a parking space at their intended destination.
Only 41 per cent of people actually use their garage for parking the car.
56 per cent of people would consider converting their garden to parking if they had no access to residential parking.
14 per cent of people have parked in a disabled space due to lack of parking.
45 per cent of people don’t feel safe walking through most car parks at night.

More than three quarters of Britons think that parking problems should be addressed by more underground parking at homes and shops and better public transport.

Other reports suggest that selfish car parking is currently the biggest ‘hot potato’ in neighbourly living – more than three million households have done battle with their neighbours over parking.

Almost £1 billion was raised in the UK last year from parking charges and fines but the evidence showed that motorists felt aggrieved about confusing regulations and unclear signing. Many motorists also complain that over-zealous parking attendants, given incentives for the number of tickets they issue, treat them unfairly.

Frustrations have led authorities such as Westminster, Manchester and Edinburgh to adopt enforcement policies with more emphasis on discretion and flexibility rather than "targets for tickets" and innovative techniques to ensure fairness. This approach should now be rolled out nationwide.

The RAC Foundation’s Parking Manifesto also recommends:

The objective of parking enforcement should be to reduce dangerous and obstructive parking, not to raise revenue.
Government should review regulations to simplify them and make them intelligible.
Signs and regulations should be clearer and parking attendants should be more flexible in their approach to motorists who may have briefly overstayed on a meter or parked on a yellow line.
Local authorities should be obliged to adopt the British Parking Association’s parking guidelines.
More cars should be parked off-street to reduce danger and obstruction. For new housing developments, 1.5 spaces per residence should become a minimum standard rather than maximum.
In existing built-up areas, the provision of surface off-street parking (where land is available) should be encouraged and new schemes should be piloted -like automated underground silos which provide secure parking with minimal use of space.
Multi-storey, underground and surface car parks should be retained, or if already lost, replaced.
Parking restrictions should be reviewed every five years and those that are no longer necessary removed.
More on-street residential bays should be freed up during the day for use by visitors, to encourage optimum use of space.
More parking should be provided at transport interchanges, and more quality park and ride schemes are necessary.
Local authorities should set up quality partnerships with parking providers, using information technology and variable message signs to provide real time information to motorists about parking at their destination.

Foundation director Edmund King said, "Political parties should adopt parking measures that could make a difference to the lives of the country’s 32 million motorists. Parking may be regarded as dull by politicians but it is an issue which affects the life of every driver. Getting it right could be a major vote winner."

Thanks to Jeremy Parsons for the image.