North Berwick residents oppose parking charges at public meeting

About 200 residents attended a public meeting hosted by North Berwick Community Council at St Andrew Blackadder Church on Tuesday evening.

The community council has been a fierce critic of plans approved by East Lothian Council which the local authority says will improve the turnover and availability of town centre parking.

These include the introduction of year-round controlled parking zones and charges for on-street parking and for parking within town centre car parks; residents inside the zones would also have to pay for a parking permit.

Traffic regulation orders (TROs) to allow the changes have now been published by the local authority and objections can be submitted.

Although not attended by any officials from the council - an invitation was offered but not accepted – the meeting was billed as an opportunity to learn more about the scheme and how to raise objections to the TROs, as well as ask community councillors about it.

Just two supporters

Excluding community councillors, 189 members of the public attended and, when asked for a show of hands to gauge support for the scheme, just two people raised theirs.

One resident told the meeting: “This [scheme] is anti-democratic.

“The council should be clear that they’ve picked on the wrong town – let’s not put up with this at all.”

Christiane Maher, community councillor, led the meeting; she explained the measures and detailing their impact street-by-street to those in attendance.

On-street parking charges – varying from 50p to £1 per 30-minute period – from 8.30am to 6pm Monday-Saturday and from 1pm on Sundays, all-year-round, would be introduced at Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs) throughout the town. The first 45 minutes of parking on High Street would, however, be free.

The scheme is predicted to generate annual income of almost £1.2m for cash-strapped East Lothian Council – but cost about £105,000 a year to run and have capital costs of £450,000, including the installation of ticket machines, new signing and lining, IT systems, offices, and the hiring of two parking attendants.

'Death knell'

The council says the proposals focus on making it easier for residents to park and will encourage greater turnover of parking spaces to provide better access for all to businesses and services.

However, community leaders have vehemently opposed the scheme, with business leaders claiming they would be the “death knell” for the independent shops on High Street.

A petition was launched – attracting more than 4,500 signatures – in opposition to the plan but East Lothian Council refused to consider it based on “procedural issues”.

Mrs Maher highlighted the perceived flaws of the proposal, as seen by the community council, stating that the data used to formulate the scheme came from only two days in August in 2019 and 2021, along with “three footfall surveys in November”.

She also highlighted that Peter Forsyth, of the council roads team, had already called the consultation “flawed”. She added that he said: “We will have to do better next time in Musselburgh [the next town to have its parking reviewed by the council, as part of a wider scheme which will eventually consider parking in each of the county’s six towns].”

Mrs Maher also described the practice of the council using the examples of Bristol and Toronto town centres to influence the proposal for North Berwick as “outrageous”. She concluded: “This proposal tries to kill a fly with a huge rock that will cause a lot more collateral damage than just the fly.”

'An absolute outrage'

At the meeting, residents took aim at the council.

One said: “I don’t think the council is listening to us. It’s not apathy, it’s arrogance.”

Residents also raised issue with the consultation process, describing the petition rejection as the “final insult”.

One said: “It’s an absolute outrage, the consultation was a farce.

“The survey was corrupt beyond corrupt with leading questions. I smell a rat. The final insult was throwing out the petition. That is a scandal of the first order.”

Residents also questioned why the scheme would operate all-year-round rather than only in the busy summer months.

Mrs Maher claimed: “The council is not interested in partnership – it is interested in raising cash.

“The only reason [it is not seasonal] is money.

‘Disappointing’

“We would like a dialogue with East Lothian Council but there is no communication. If they talk to us, they talk down to us.”

The group asked for a show of hands of people in favour of the proposal; only two were raised.

Craig Hoy, South Scotland MSP, was the only parliamentarian in attendance; he said that it was “very disappointing” that the council had failed to send someone to the meeting, adding that the key component of consulting was listening to the community. He stressed his desire to “mobilise support” and encouraged as many people as possible to object.

He said: “The more submissions that go in opposition [to the proposals]... gives us the biggest leverage.

“We recognise there is a parking problem in North Berwick at some points in the year – but this is a sledgehammer to crack a nut.”

Mr Hoy was also angered by the rejected petition, describing the council’s actions as “absolutely shocking”.

'Try to persuade them'

Ward councillor Jeremy Findlay, a Conservative colleague of Mr Hoy, was the only East Lothian councillor in attendance; he encouraged residents to write to councillors who previously voted for the proposal to try and change their mind. He said: “[The proposals] will come back to full council to vote on again. Write to other councillors who voted against them. Try to persuade them to vote [differently].”

Fellow ward councillors Carol McFarlane (Labour) and Liz Allan (SNP), who had both supported the proposal at a crunch East Lothian Council vote, did not attend.

Attendees shared their displeasure at the lack of council representation at the meeting.

A council spokesperson told the Courier: “The community council advised roads officers about this meeting late last week and have been advised that there isn’t any senior officer available to attend due to the very late notice, but they have been offered the opportunity to submit any questions requiring clarification prior to the meeting.”

The spokesperson said that the council would not comment further on the meeting.

Kenny Miller, chair of North Berwick Community Council, spoke to the Courier after the meeting.

He said: “From the community council perspective, the meeting went very well.

“My thanks to Christiane Maher for her excellent and informative presentation, which made sense of confusing and disjointed information provided by East Lothian Council.

“My thanks to all who attended, and in particular to those who spoke with so much knowledge on the subject. I would be very interested to hear further from them with a view to our making use of that knowledge if they would be prepared to help.

“If you haven’t done so, please get your objection in to East Lothian Council before October 22.”

How to object

Any objection must be in writing, must specify the grounds of objection and should be addressed to: North Berwick Parking Management TRO, Asset and Regulatory Manager, Road Services, Penston House, Macmerry, EH33 1EX; or email roadsconsultation@eastlothian.gov.uk quoting reference ‘North Berwick Draft TRO’ by October 22.

Visit orlo.uk/mcWCy for more on the objection procedure.