A councillor has “grave concerns” about proposals for a residents’ parking scheme in the west end of Dundee.
Labour’s Richard McCready said he is worried it may harm shops in the Perth Road area and that the cost could be too high for people.
It has emerged that it is likely to be April before a public consultation on the scheme can begin, which will be more than two years since councillors approved the concept.
David Dorward, city council chief executive, told west end Liberal Democrat member Fraser Macpherson that staffing problems were responsible for the delay.
Mr McCready said he too was concerned by the time it was taking to put detailed proposals before the public.
He said: “It is essential that people in the west end have clarity about these proposals.
“There are many problems related to car parking in the west end. I do not think that all of these problems have easy solutions. There are now many cars in streets that just were not designed with car parking in mind.
“The city council agreed to consult on a residents’ car parking scheme, this has been delayed and delayed and delayed.
“I think that people in the west end are less interested in the reasons why the consultation has not been brought forward and more interested in having a clear sense of what the council is doing with regard to the parking issues.
“I am not convinced that the residents’ parking scheme is the solution to the problems in the west end.
“Not least among my concerns would be that the cost would seem to me to be a problem, with an indicative figure of £80 per year mentioned in previous reports.”
Mr McCready said it was important that people were given the chance to have their say.
“If the residents’ parking scheme is what they want then let’s move forward. If not, let’s look at alternatives.
“In the meantime little is being done about the very real issues in the west end around car parking. Clarity and action are required.”
But he added that he had “grave concerns” about the impact a parking scheme might have on local businesses.
“At a time when we should be doing all we can to promote the Perth Road shops, I think that we need to ensure that we are supporting them as much as possible.
“If council officers and/or the administration of the city council do not support the residents’ car parking scheme, they should make this clear and bring forward alternative proposals.”