Warning parking concerns could escalate to ‘dangerous’ populism

Councillors have been warned anger over the introduction of parking charges in East Lothian town centres could lead to a ‘dangerous’ rise in populism.

Protests over the new meters which began operating in North Berwick have already seen the majority of machines vandalised before they even came into operation and ongoing claims the charges will destroy local businesses.

A meeting of East Lothian Council’s petitions committee today was warned that people had lost confidence in the democratic process as it called for a pause on the proposals until a full impact review is carried out.

Petitioner Dr Lindsey Horner told councillors the perceived lack of evidence-led support for the scheme had damaged public confidence in the democratic process used by the council.

And she warned there was a ‘democratic deficit’ with people feeling they were not being listened to by those making the decision.

She said: “It is creating a place for populism to come in. It is a really really dangerous thing.”

The introduction of the scheme in North Berwick has seen a number of issues in week one with claims signs are confusing, residents were struggling to get permits and people were staying away.

During the meeting it was also revealed that a demand that drivers register their vehicles at parking meters as soon as they arrive is not compulsory.

East Lothian Council’s website tells motorists they ‘must’ register their vehicles when they park even though the first 45 minutes of parking is free.

But Peter Forsyth, project manager, told the meeting: “It is not essential people register for the first 45 minutes but we prefer it.”

Dr Horner, who is a University of Edinburgh lecturer specialising in critical peace education, peacebuilding education and participatory research, brought the petition calling for a pause to the schemes to allow a ‘holistic, rigorous, and publicly accessible ‘ review of its impact on the towns to be carried out.

At the time of accepting the petition to put before the committee it had 4,390 signatures on it.

Dr Horner told the committee the council had failed to follow its own policies by not carrying out an equalities impact assessment before introducing the parking charges in North Berwick, where it got underway last week.

And she said while some individual reports and consultations had been undertaken for specific locations, there has been no single, comprehensive impact assessment that examines the cumulative social, economic, equality, accessibility, environmental, and democratic impacts of the parking charge plans across all affected town centres.

Presenting her petition to the committee Dr Horner said: “There have been a number of surveys looking at how parking spaces are used but not who the people are who are using them.

“They look at road safety but not the personal safety of the single woman walking further to get to their car in the dark or people on low incomes who need their car to get to work and are losing two hours of pay a week to charges.”

Council officers in their response to the petition urged the committee to note the concerns raised by the petition but “support the parking review to continue to advance and move forward to the formal Traffic regulation Order consultation process which will be presented back to Council for wider consideration in due course”.

Councillor Lyn Jardine called for a middle ground to be sought after being reassured by officers that a learned and listened sessions were already being held to pick up on issues raised by the scheme and find solutions moving forward.

Councillors agreed to reject the petition’s demand to pause the scheme but three votes to one with councillors Jardine, Norman Hampshire and John McMillan instead agreeing to bring a report on how the North Berwick scheme is progressing to full council in August when all councillors would be able to discuss to possibility of a pause again.

Councillor George McGuire voted to accept the petition.