'Buffer' to keep wardens walking

THE Capital's parking enforcers are set to patrol even more streets with the creation of the first "buffer zone" on the edge of the city's controlled parking area.

Part-time parking restrictions are being proposed for some streets just outside the existing Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) to stop commuters using them as "park and ride" sites.

The new restrictions are being drawn up for the streets surrounding the S1 Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ), which covers Marchmont, Sciennes and the Grange.

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However, if the "buffer zone" proves successful, it is expected to be extended to other parts of the city.

The new measures, which include 20 a year parking permits and additional yellow lines, are being brought in to stop commuters taking up residents' spaces during the day.

The controls would operate for just a few hours a day each week between Mondays and Fridays.

The move comes after 1,200 people objected to earlier council plans to introduce a new CPZ in the area.

The new buffer zone, which will be known as "south of S1", extends from Dalkeith Road in the east to Astley Ainslie Hospital in the west.

There will be no pay-and-display parking, but the new resident and visitor permits are designed to make it easier for drivers to park nearer their homes.

The scheme will cost 40,000 to implement, a fraction of the 600,000 usually spent on new CPZs.

In a council report due to go before the council's transport committee next Tuesday, the city's head of transport, Marshall Poulton, set out the need for the scheme. He wrote: "Since the area of the CPZ was extended during 2006 and 2007, it has become apparent that commuter parking has, at least in part, simply migrated to beyond the new boundaries of the CPZ.

"While there is evidence to suggest that the extent of commuter parking has reduced, there is no doubting the negative impact that such parking has on the general amenity of residential areas, as well as the quality of life of their residents."

He added: "It has been suggested that parking pressures in the area are not only the result of commuter parking, but also as a result of long-stay parking that is not related to demands from the within the area itself.

"It is possible that this long-stay parking comprises residential parking displaced from within the CPZ itself, where residents do not need the use of their vehicles on a regular basis."