West Lothian Council is asked to tackle 'free for all' parking issue in towns

Councillor Willie Boyle raised a motion at a meeting of full council this week calling for a report commissioned in 2019 into parking to be brought before councillors and urged the introduction of Decriminalised Parking Enforcement (DPE).

West Lothian has no on-street parking controls. Pre-pandemic it hired consultants at a cost of £50,000 to conduct a study of future parking enforcement. This was delayed by lockdowns.

Councillor Boyle told the meeting: “We’re asking for this consultation to be brought to the Executive ASAP. It’s a growing concern.”

Currently 21 local authorities operate DPE schemes which enable them to enforce their own parking policies, including issuing Penalty Charge Notices to motorists who breach parking controls in town centres.

Councillor Boyle added: “In areas with DPE stationary traffic offences cease to be criminal offences enforced by the police and instead become civil penalties imposed by local authorities. Enforcement of certain parking offences, such as obstructive or dangerous parking, remains the responsibility of Police Scotland.”

In an amendment, Executive councillor for the environment Tom Conn said: “The results of the survey would be submitted to a special meeting of the Environment and Sustainability PDSP, likely to be held after a forthcoming meeting on Tuesday to discuss budget decisions. A decision would be made as part of a wider parking strategy.”

Linlithgow councillor Sally Pattle said: “In Linlithgow, we have had horrendous problems since 2014. The police don’t have capacity to cope, that’s why there’s been so much pressure for the council to implement DPE.”

At one point, Linlithgow Community Council considered administering its own parking enforcement, but the plan was rejected.

Councillor Pattle added: “If something concrete isn’t implemented in the next eight weeks we need to bring it back to the next meeting.”

In a vote, Councillor Boyle’s motion was defeated by 17 votes to 14.