{"id":359439,"date":"2026-01-08T18:46:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T18:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/359439\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T18:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T18:46:07","slug":"new-powers-for-councils-in-england-to-fine-pavement-parkers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/359439\/","title":{"rendered":"New powers for councils in England to fine pavement parkers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The document did not specify how &#8220;unnecessary obstruction&#8221; would be defined &#8211; instead saying it would be at the discretion of council enforcement officers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It added that there may be roads where some parking on the pavement is necessary to allow emergency vehicles to pass through.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Labour ministers argued this approach would mean local councils could shape policies in their areas, including on possible exemptions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">A government consultation found respondents were split on a proposed 20-minute exemption for vehicles making deliveries to businesses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Some respondents felt councils would be unable to properly enforce the rules but &#8220;many would see it as a licence for councils to print money&#8221;, the document noted. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The previous Conservative government consulted on pavement parking in 2020, but no new powers were announced before Labour took office in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Living Streets, a charity that promotes everyday walking, said the new powers would allow &#8220;some quick progress after years of inaction&#8221; on the issue, but it was disappointed the announcement fell short of a national ban.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It added that enforcement at the council level would create &#8220;inconsistency for communities and drivers, which increases risks for everyone using our streets&#8221;. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The document did not specify how &#8220;unnecessary obstruction&#8221; would be defined &#8211; instead saying it would be at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-359439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}