Background

No councillor will be unfamiliar with complaints about pavement parking and obstruction of the pavement by vehicles.

Causing obstruction that prevents someone from passing along a footway, cycleway or similar is an offence under the Highways Act 1980 sec. 137 (hereafter ‘S137’)*. This is enforceable only by the police, not by local authority enforcement. An offence under S137 is additional to any contravention of civil driving or parking restrictions such as yellow lines. A S137 offence can occur without the whole of the footway obstructed - if any individual’s “free passage” is prevented, it constitutes obstruction.

In response to a Freedom of Information request, Greater Manchester Police have provided data relating to enforcement of S137. During 2022, across all of Greater Manchester, GMP issued just 267 fixed penalties under S137, and made five arrests, two of which resulted in no further action.

Furthermore, GMP do not record what part of the highway was obstructed. They are unable to say how many of these cases relate specifically to obstruction of a footway or similar.

Council notes that:

·         Reaching its Vision Zero target depends on safe access to footways, cycleways and other non-vehicular infrastructure at all times,

·         Vision Zero cannot be achieved if inadequate data is available about pavement obstructions and enforcement of existing laws,

·         GMP currently do not record data about which part(s) of the highway an obstruction occurred on, when taking action under S137,

·         Across the whole of Greater Manchester, police enforcement of S137 by way of fixed penalties or arrests occurs less than once a day,

·         Parking on pavements, or on any other part of the road other than a carriageway, has been banned across Greater London since 1974**, with provision for local authorities to introduce exempted locations. Local authorities have the power to enforce this legislation. Similar laws were introduced by the Scottish Parliament in 2019***.

Council resolves:

·         That the leader will write to the Mayor of Greater Manchester and to the Chief Constable of GMP, requesting that data is recorded and provided about S137 offences includes:

o   The location of the obstruction, i.e. carriageway/footway/cycleway/shared-use/other,

o   The type(s) of vehicle involved, or detailing as non-vehicular obstruction where appropriate,

o   Geographic data at the level of LA wards or similarly sized ONS areas,

o   The proportion of reported S137 offences that are acted upon with fixed penalties or arrests, the proportion which receive police attention but are not acted upon, and the proportion which do not receive any police attention,

and that this data is made available to local authorities in a timely manner.

·         To ensure that all relevant council staff understand what constitutes an offence under S137 and how to report via non-emergency routes,

·         To work with council contractors to ensure that their staff are similarly informed,

·         That the leader of the council will write to the Secretary of State for Transport, calling for the prohibition of pavement parking in Greater London to be expanded across England.

^* https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/66/section/137

^** https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/1974/24/section/15

^*** https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2019/17/part/6/crossheading/pavement-parking-prohibition/enacted

The Motion set out on the Summons regarding Pavement obstruction: towards the Vision Zero target was moved and seconded.

Following a debate on the matter, the Motion was put to the vote and was carried unanimously.

RESOLVED: No councillor will be unfamiliar with complaints about pavement parking and obstruction of the pavement by vehicles.

Causing obstruction that prevents someone from passing along a footway, cycleway or similar is an offence under the Highways Act 1980 sec. 137 (hereafter ‘S137’). This is enforceable only by the police, not by local authority enforcement. An offence under S137 is additional to any contravention of civil driving or parking restrictions such as yellow lines. A S137 offence can occur without the whole of the footway obstructed - if any individual’s “free passage” is prevented, it constitutes obstruction.

In response to a Freedom of Information request, Greater Manchester Police have provided data relating to enforcement of S137. During 2022, across all of Greater Manchester, GMP issued just 267 fixed penalties under S137, and made five arrests, two of which resulted in no further action.          

Furthermore, GMP do not record what part of the highway was obstructed. They are unable to say how many of these cases relate specifically to obstruction of a footway or similar.

The Council notes that:

·         Reaching its Vision Zero target depends on safe access to footways, cycleways and other non-vehicular infrastructure at all times,

·         Vision Zero cannot be achieved if inadequate data is available about pavement obstructions and enforcement of existing laws,

·         GMP currently do not record data about which part(s) of the highway an obstruction occurred on, when taking action under S137,

·         Across the whole of Greater Manchester, police enforcement of S137 by way of fixed penalties or arrests occurs less than once a day,

·         Parking on pavements, or on any other part of the road other than a carriageway, has been banned across Greater London since 1974, with provision for local authorities to introduce exempted locations. Local authorities have the power to enforce this legislation. Similar laws were introduced by the Scottish Parliament in 2019.

The Council resolves:

-       That the Leader will write to the Mayor of Greater Manchester and to the Chief Constable of GMP, requesting that data is recorded and provided about S137 offences includes:

o   The Location of the obstruction, i.e., carriageway / footway / cycleway / shared use / other,

o   The type(s) of vehicle involved, or detailing as non-vehicular obstruction where appropriate,

o   Geographic data at the level of LA wards or similarly sized ONS areas,

o   The proportion of reported S137 offences that are acted upon with fixed penalties or arrests, the proportion which receive police attention but are not acted upon, and the proportion which do not receive any police attention, and that this data is made available to local authorities in a timely manner.

-       To ensure that all relevant council staff understand what constitutes an offence under S137 and how to report via non-emergency routes,

-       To work with council contractors to ensure that their staff are similarly informed,

-       That the leader of the council will write to the Secretary of State for Transport, calling for the prohibition of pavement parking in Greater London to be expanded across England.