End pavement parking in England

WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?

Vehicles parked on the footway can cause an obstruction and inhibit the independence of many vulnerable people, especially older or disabled people with visual or mobility impairments. YouGov polling commissioned by Living Streets found that 62% of adults over 65 in England were worried about obstructions on the pavement.

Every day, parents and children are putting themselves at risk because of pavement parking. Polling commissioned by Living Streets indicates that 87% of parents have had to walk into the road because of pavement parking and that 80% would be more likely to walk their child to school if there wasn’t pavement parking. Moreover, a Living Streets FOI request (2018) found that 93% of local authorities in England have received complaints from members of the public about pavement parking.

WHAT'S THE LATEST?

We welcomed the nationwide prohibition of pavement parking in Scotland announced in 2019. Following Covid-19, the implementation of the law was delayed and Living Streets Scotland worked to ensure the Scottish Government delivered the change in the correct way and only providing exemption when truly needed. In Wales, the Welsh Government proposed changes that will allow local authorities to enforce against pavement parking where it is causing an unnecessary obstruction to people on the pavement. 

Legislation to enable local leaders to prohibit pavement parking has been included in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill. The amendment included in the Bill, which achieved Royal Assent on 29 April 2026, will enable The Secretary of State to make regulations giving each English local transport authority the power to impose a prohibition on the parking of motor vehicles on the footways and verges. Put simply, if councils choose to act, they will soon have the legal tools they need to ban pavement parking in their area. 

The Devolution Bill achieving Royal Assent is a huge step towards ending pavement parking – but it’s not the end of the road to reclaim our pavements for pedestrians.

Alongside these powers, the UK Government has also pledged to enable local authorities to enforce against unnecessary obstruction of the pavement via secondary legislation. This essentially allows uniformed civil enforcement officers to enforce against cars that are parked on the pavement. 

We are supporting the UK Government to design their guidance for local authorities on the enforcement of pavement parking, so it may take some time before we see enforcement pavement parked cars. Following the implementation of this secondary legislation, we will be working with Strategic Transport Authority Mayors and Transport Leads, as well as our Living Streets Local Groups to encourage them to make use of this power. We will also encourage them to commit to regional or local pavement parking bans as set out in the Devolution Bill.

THE CONSULTATION WAS WON THANKS IN NO SMALL PART TO THE THOUSANDS OF LIVING STREETS SUPPORTERS WHO SENT US THEIR THOUGHTS ON PAVEMENT PARKING IN SPRING 2019

The following June, our Policy and Research Manager, Dr Rachel Lee, went before the Transport Select Committee to give oral evidence on the impact on pedestrians of pavement parking.

In her evidence she included several of the thousands of personal testimonies we received from our supporters - the power of which was noted by members of the committee afterwards.

You can watch the session in full in our video here.