Local councillors have demanded that Linlithgow should be one of the first towns to introduce parking fines.
Head of Operational Services David Maule was told by local members that the council should take control of parking “as soon as possible”.
A meeting of the town’s Local Area Committee heard that the earliest it could be introduced would be at least two years away, more than a decade after the opposition SNP group first proposed it in 2019.
Mr Maule was outlining details of the public consultation which has been launched by the council ahead of the presentation of a business plan which is expected to go to the council Executive.
The SNP’s Councillor Pauline Orr pointed out that Linlithgow was in a proposed second tier of communities to see the introduction of Decriminalised Parking Enforcement ( DPE) where the council takes control of policing parking and issuing fines.
She told the meeting: “There’s a top tier and we are second tier; I would really urge the council to reconsider. The roads are the way they were built hundreds of years ago, and I really think Linlithgow should be put a top priority.”
She added: “DPE was first talked about in 2019 and it will be ten or 11 years before it is introduced into a town which attracts 100,000 visitors to Linlithgow Palace alone in a year. It is ridiculous.”
Chairing the meeting Lib Dem councillor Sally Pattle highlighted the income potential from parking charges from tourism. “In a town like Linlithgow that could be a really valuable source of income generation because of the tourists and visitor footfall that we have on a year-round basis.”
Questioned by Councillor Pattle, Mr Maule said the experience of another local authorities in achieving DPE took up to 18 months. It was a timeline “out with the council’s control”, he added.
Councillor Pattle said: “ In Linlithgow we would very much like to see decriminalised parking transferred to the council as soon as possible because illegal parking in the Linlithgow ward is an absolute blight on our community
“We see people who have complete disregard for the law. We have seen that the police do their best but don’t have resources.”
Councillor Tom Conn said past discussions on parking charges had been “finely balanced”. He pointed out that the biggest problem Linlithgow faced is that there not enough parking spaces.
Councillor Orr also raised questions of the generic nature of the online consultation which appears on the council’s website. She expressed doubts about its reliance on yes /no answers. She suggested that instead of one comment box there should be an opportunity to comment after every question.
Stuart Sommerville Local Democracy Reporter
