CALLS are growing to scrap plans for proposed parking charges in North Berwick amid claims the scheme has become a farce.
East Lothian Council had expected to have parking meters operating on the seaside town centre’s streets last month but have hit snags getting planning permission from their own officers.
Now the local authority has confirmed that earlier proposals to phase in the scheme by introducing off street charges in car parks, due to be introduced last April, have also been delayed after it was not practical to start charging people until the meters were in place.
Since April 13, planning applications have been lodged seeking permission to install the meters in the conservation area. However, five have had to be withdrawn – one of them twice – while the rest remain undecided.
The local authority insists the withdrawal of several of the applications is “normal practice” in the planning process but declined to go into details over what was wrong with the initial proposals beyond saying it was due to “accessibility of the proposed locations”.
The pavements in some of North Berwick’s town centre streets are narrow and already become clogged with tourists during busy periods.
[[North Berwick]] is the first of five East Lothian towns due to see parking charges brought in with consultations ongoing over similar plans for Dunbar, Tranent, Haddington, and Musselburgh.
East Lothian MSP Paul McLennan, who served as a councillor on the local authority before being elected to Holyrood said, in his experience, the number of application withdrawn was not normal.
McLennan said the North Berwick scheme should be put on hold while consultations in other towns were being carried out.
He said: “The process has been poorly planned and in North Berwick it should be halted until decisions are made elsewhere in East Lothian.”
Fellow East Lothian MSP Craig Hoy, who also served as a councillor and has been an outspoken opponent of town centre parking charges across the county, described the North Berwick situation as "farcical”.
He said: “This is farcical. It goes to show that East Lothian Council hadn’t thought through either the impact of parking charges on residents or the practical consequences of installing parking metres in historic and conservation areas in the town.”
An East Lothian Council spokesperson said: “Following ongoing consultation work, the proposed placement of a small number of parking meters was changed.
"This was in relation to accessibility of the proposed locations. As is normal practice in the planning process, the previous applications were withdrawn and new applications for the amended locations were submitted.”
On the decision not to introduce car park charges in April as originally proposed, they said: “Off-street charges haven’t been introduced. We are seeking to deliver the overall proposal at the same time rather than in parts.”
