Parking fines set to increase in Edinburgh to avoid cuts to roads budget

Parking fines are set to increase to £100 in Edinburgh in a bid to minimise cuts to the city’s roads budget and help fund repairs to the city’s potholes.

Edinburgh City Council’s transport convener said the Scottish Government will hand the Capital powers to increase the maximum penalty for parking without a ticket by £40.

Councillor Scott Arthur said it would raise “well over £1m a year” which would be “invested straight into road and footpath maintenance”.

He tweeted to say that it could raise up to £2.4m a year, and adding that it would help tackle ” antisocial parking” – and that “every penny will be invested in fixing potholes.”

It comes after council finance bosses proposed slashing Edinburgh’s roads funding by £12m to meet the spiralling cost of the North Bridge refurbishment.

Currently, if a driver parks their vehicle on certain city streets without purchasing a ticket they are handed a £60 penalty charge notice (PCN), which drops to £30 if it is paid in two weeks.

With this now set to rise to £100, the reduced penalty for early payment will be £50. The increase will take effect from April 1.

Cllr Arthur said the Scottish Government confirmed the increase to him, despite being told earlier this year he wouldn’t be allowed to put parking fines up.

Transport Scotland said in January that “now is not an appropriate time” to introduce a rise amid cost-of-living crisis.

The Scottish Government was approached for comment.

The plan to hike parking charges will form part of the Labour administration’s budget next week, cllr Arthur said.

“That should get us well over £1m a year,” he added.

“The idea is that will just get invested straight into road and footpath maintenance.”

After plans emerged this month to reduce Edinburgh’s ‘carriageway and footways’ budget by £1.5m a year over the next eight years, he warned this would speed-up the decline of the city’s roads and footpaths which he said “have never been in a worse condition”.

Council officers said the cut was necessary after the North Bridge refurbishment project rose by another £24m – bringing the total to £86m.

However, the impact on cash available for road maintenance could be minimised significantly if the move to increase parking revenue proves successful.