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Letter 5 Reply
17 April 2002
Dear MrTarrant
Plantation Road, Slade Green - Request For Additional Pavement Parking Bays
Thank you for your letter dated 8 April following our correspondence about your request for additional pavement parking bays to be installed in Plantation Road at its junction with Slade Green Road.
The ban on parking vehicles on footways/pavements and verges, is a consequence of Section 15 of the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1974 which came into effect in 1985. It applies to all roads at all times of the day throughout the week. The Police were responsible for the enforcement of the ban until July 1994, but did not attach a high priority to this task and pavement parking became commonplace. Enforcement responsibilities were transferred from the Police to the Council from 4 September 1994, and the Council gave enforcement a much higher priority. I can assure you that the pavement parking ban is enforced in the London Borough of Bromley, as it is in all London Boroughs.
The Council accepts that many people enjoy the convenience of owning a car. But no one has the automatic right to park on the road and the Council has no duty to provide parking for residents. Indeed the Council wishes residents to park their cars off the road wherever possible. The Council encourages people, thinking about buying a new or an extra vehicle, to make sure they have a suitable place to park. While the Council does try to help, as far as possible, no one has the automatic right to park on the road, let alone outside their own property.
As I have explained in my previous letters if the Council was to install bays close to the junction with Slade Green Road it is stating that this is a safe place to park, in many circumstances it may not be. If motorists choose to park near the junction and they cause an obstruction the Council may have to consider the introduction of waiting restrictions.
I understand your views about parking on the pavement; however, I do believe I have explained in my letters why the Council cannot install any additional pavement parking bays in Plantation Road.
Yours sincerely
Linda Jackson
Assistant Engineer