Pavement Parking Open Letter

Dear Party Leaders, 

We are writing to you to ask you to prioritise taking action on pavement parking.

Cars blocking pavements are a problem for everyone, but are particularly dangerous for people with sight loss, wheelchair users and older people.

Pavement parking is consistently highlighted as one of the key challenges for people with a vision impairment; 81 per cent of people with sight loss said that reducing obstacles on pavements and street clutter was important to improving their quality of life.

Cars parked on pavements present a very real danger, forcing people on to the road. The fear of this prevents some people from getting out and about independently altogether. One in three people with sight loss also said that pavement parking makes them less willing to go out alone.

We welcomed the Department for Transport’s 2020 consultation on how to tackle pavement parking in England. The consultation which received over 15,000 responses, demonstrating the strength of feeling about this important issue.

However, over four years since the consultation was announced and almost three and a half years since it closed, no further progress has been made.

This is why we are asking you as leaders of your parties to commit to taking action and pledge to introducing a law to end unsafe and unfair pavement parking. The laws in Scotland and London show this is possible and we now need action to allow everyone to walk their streets safely.

Yours sincerely,

Guide Dogs

Living Streets

RNIB

Sustrans

Thomas Pocklington Trust

Transport for All