Councillor demands future review of pavement parking exemptions

West End councillor Fraser Macpherson, has expressed deep frustration at the ongoing, multi-year delay in installing proper road signage on streets exempt from the pavement parking ban.

Correspondence spanning more than two years reveals that Dundee City Council remains locked in a standstill with Transport Scotland over funding for Pavement Parking Exemption Orders (PPEOs).   While the council initially hoped to have lining and signage completed by the end of 2024, the latest updates from council officers confirm that Transport Scotland is still undertaking "further work" with COSLA before any funding can be confirmed.
As a result, a number of part-streets across the city remain completely exempt from the standard pavement parking ban, yet have absolutely no signage in place to advise or guide drivers.

Speaking on the issue, Councillor Macpherson said:
"This issue has dragged on for ages unresolved. We have a bizarre situation where entire sections of streets are exempt from the pavement parking ban, but because there is zero signage to tell anyone, drivers are left completely in the dark.”
"Council officers are doing their best to pursue this, but we are being met with endless bureaucratic delays with Transport Scotland.    It is simply unacceptable that more than two years after this was first raised, we are no further forward in getting physical signs on our streets."

Call for future council administration to review exemptions
Beyond the immediate signage failure, Cllr Macpherson has also criticised the council’s stubborn refusal to ever review existing pavement parking exemptions once they are put in place or consider any new ones and consult the public again.
The council has consistently shown no willingness to monitor how the current exemptions are working in practice, nor have they allowed the public to be consulted on proposing new ones where local conditions might require them.

Cllr Macpherson concluded:
"The blanket refusal to review these exemptions is short-sighted.    Communities change, traffic patterns change and we need a system that is flexible and responsive to the needs of local residents. “ 
“Dundee City Council’s primary work on identifying and processing the initial pavement parking exemptions took place between late 2023 and mid-2024. The formal response from the general public was incredibly low – just 62 representations in total in a city of 150 000 people.     Many people tell me they were completely unaware of that consultation and there is now no mechanism for them to have a request for their street to be considered for an exemption.”
"The current administration is asleep at the wheel on this.    A key priority for a new council administration in 2027 must be to completely tackle this issue. We need a fair, transparent process that reviews existing exemptions, listens to local communities and actively invites the public to be consulted on where new exemptions may or may not be appropriate."