Residents in Dundee have hit out at a consultation on plans to introduce parking permits in three areas of the city.
The council is set to rule out pushing forward with the proposals for the West End, Maryfield and Coldside amid claims there is not enough appetite for them.
Councillors will be asked to reject the move on Monday, after officials said only 50 people responded to the consultation.
But some of those affected claim the council survey was not well enough advertised, leading to the poor response.
Brenda Marr, 72, who lives on Balgray Street in Coldside, wants the matter to be revisited – claiming she has struggled with parking problems for years.
Calls for council to revisit permits plan
She said: “This is disgraceful. The council needs to look at this again. These parking issues have blighted my life for 20 years.
“I’m bitterly disappointed that the council don’t plan to help us.”
Brenda, who has a heart condition and arthritis, says six years ago she managed to get a disabled parking space outside her home.
But she claims she has even had people parking in that spot.
She added: “This street is constantly filled with people who don’t live here parking.
“There are SORN (statutory off-road notice) vehicles abandoned everywhere.
“No one I have spoken to knew anything about the consultation.
“They ought to have contacted residents directly, or carried out a leaflet drop in the areas affected to let them know there was a consultation ongoing.”
Pat Bree, who lives on the same street, says she was also unaware of the consultation.
She said: “It’s just awful here. I have spoken with the council a few times over the years.
“Residents find it almost impossible to get parked at their own homes.
“Permits for residents would make such a difference.”
What we have here is a botched consultation followed by semantic smoke and mirrors
The council has said residents do not back a permit scheme which does not form “part of a wider change to transport provision in the city”.
But Sean Hamilton, who lives in the West End, has branded that view “nonsense”.
He added: “What we have here is a botched consultation followed by semantic smoke and mirrors from Dundee City Council’s leadership designed to kick a West End residents parking scheme into the long grass.
“They are taking the Mick out of the public here – the same public they thought nothing of lumbering with parking charges in West End car parks not so long ago.”
Of the 50 responses to the consultation, 40 were from the West End and only five each from Coldside and Maryfield.
Coldside councillor George McIrvine says he has spoken to residents with “strong views” both for and against the idea.
He continued: “The biggest cause for concern is the frustrations local residents have had with the so-called public consultation.
“This was poorly advertised with people only finding out that it is now being kicked into the long grass due to lack of feedback via the local press.”
West End councillor Richard McCready says something still needs to be done about parking in the area.
He said: “Many commuters come into the West End and other periphery areas of the city centre to park their cars and this can make it very difficult for local people.
“Residential areas are blighted by commuter parking with residents abandoned by Dundee City Council. This is not good enough.”
Mark Flynn, convener of the city development committee, told The Courier this week: “It is vital when such fundamental change in our communities as this is proposed, that the council’s decision-making processes are supplemented and informed by the views of the people on the ground who would be affected most.
“That process, which was interrupted by the pandemic, concluded at the end of last year and none of the three areas showed an overwhelming appetite for a residents’ parking scheme to be progressed in isolation, without forming part of a wider change to transport provision in the city.”
The council has declined to comment further.
