The Westminster Parliament will today discuss Mark Lazarowicz MP’s private member’s bill aimed at extending Holyrood’s powers to curb bad parking.
At present there is uncertainty about whether this power has been devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
If successful, the Edinburgh North & Leith MP’s bill would remove any uncertainty and allow Holyrood to tackle what he describes as ‘irresponsible parking which can be not just a nuisance but a real danger in the case of the elderly, children and people who may be visually impaired or disabled in some way’.
It proposes fixed penalties for those causing ‘an unnecessary obstruction’.
More specifically, the Responsible Parking Bill (Scotland) (HC Bill 30) proposes to ‘amend Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998 to exclude from the reservations certain provisions relating to parking; and for connected purposes’. You can read the full text here.
The bill looks to us like a terse and commonsensical measure which everyone will welcome. Lazarowicz remarks pointedly that it ‘illustrates the way devolution is an evolving process’.
We’ll bring you news of what happens as soon as we have it.
[Related story: Breaking news (18.8.11).]