Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce legislation to make obstructive pavement parking a civil offence enforced by local authorities.

Some offences relating to the parking of vehicles have not been decriminalised and remain enforceable by the police in all circumstances, whether a local authority has civil parking enforcement powers or not. This includes leaving a vehicle in a position where it causes an unnecessary obstruction (the ‘unnecessary obstruction’ offence).

The Department for Transport completed a review of pavement parking in England looking at the extent of the problem, the effectiveness of the current legislation and options for change. The Department for Transport is considering the conclusions of the Transport Select Committee’s recent inquiry into pavement parking, alongside the findings of its own evidence review, before deciding upon a course of action to tackle the problem of pavement parking.