Sunday 19 December 2021

Call for action on West End parking charges given "work from home" instruction


I have today strongly criticised Dundee City Council’s lack of action to suspend parking charges in residential areas of the West End, despite the First Minister’s instruction - as a result of the latest COVID situation and the Omicron variant – to work from home if possible.

On behalf of residents, I contacted the City Council to suggest that the council suspend car parking charges while the new “work from home” instruction was in force. However the response from the council’s Head of Sustainable Transport and Roads indicated :

“I can confirm that the Council is not planning to suspend parking charges at this time.”

I am very critical of the council’s inaction on this which flies in the face of the Scottish Government’s instruction to work from home given the latest turn of events on COVID.

The council is placing a disincentive to working from home – something that is not, in my view, a responsible approach.

The West End is unique in the city in having the only Dundee car parks in residential areas with parking charges but without any form of residents’ parking scheme, due to the failure of the administration to make progress on the issue.

We now have a situation where people are being expected to work from home but the council is putting a clear disincentive by taxing residents for doing so.

Because the council will not act to suspend car parking charges, I am taking the bull by the horns and have placed an item on the next City Development Committee which, if successful, would suspend the parking charges meantime.

I would much rather the council had acted responsibly and suspended the car parking charges straight away. Even if I am successful at City Development Committee in getting the charges suspended, committee will not meet until into January, so this is unnecessarily delayed.