Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Environment, Councillor L Rice, presented details of a proposed policy for dealing with dropped kerb applications and enforcement.

Councillor Rice explained that while many residents had followed the proper processes to allow them to cross the public footpath to access off-road parking, illegal off-road parking remained a considerable problem and it was noted that the most recent ‘sweep’ by Enforcement Officers indicated that there were over 2,000 cases in the Borough. 

Councillor Rice referred to the previous item on the agenda whereby the cost of dropped kerbs had been included in the Payment By Instalments scheme as a means of helping residents to comply.  A further help to some residents was a plan to extend the Disabled Adaptations Scheme to include the installation of dropped kerbs in the qualifying criteria.  Alongside those measures were a range of pro-active enforcement initiatives aimed at supporting the Council’s priority of “Enabling social responsibility” by dealing with those who refused to comply.  Four extra officers had been assigned to the project and costs incurred by the Council in pursuing enforcement action would be passed on to the householder via the application fee. 

Cabinet Members expressed their support for the policy and issues were raised relating to pavement parking in general and the means for residents to report illegal parking.  Councillor Rice explained that the overriding intention was to ensure that vehicles were parked safely and legitimately and to reduce congestion on the roads and the pavements.  With regard to the reporting of illegal parking, the Divisional Director of Environment referred to the “Report It” page on the Council’s website and the smartphone app.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Approve the Domestic Vehicle Footway Crossover (Dropped Kerb) Policy, as set out at Appendix 1 to the report;

(ii)  Agree the approach to enforcement, as set out in section 5 of the report; and

(iii)  Agree to the amendment of the Adaptations Grant Scheme to include dropped kerb schemes in the qualifying criteria, as set out in paragraph 9.5 of the report.