Independent review of North Berwick parking charge scheme approved

An independent review of the impact of the introduction of parking charges in the seaside town of North Berwick could help rebuild community trust and end ‘toxic’ attacks on those involved, East Lothian Council heard.

Elected members agreed to approve the review by the University of Glasgow which will look at the evidence collected by a number of sources before producing a report next summer setting out the impact of the policy on businesses, the community and tourism.

During a meeting of full council, an amendment calling for the review to be delayed until more information about where information would come from and additional material used, was rejected by elected members.

Councillor Jeremy Findlay, Conservative ward member, raised concerns from the North Berwick community that the source of many data sets to be used appeared to be East Lothian Council pointing to a parking survey carried out during Fringe by the Sea, as the wrong ‘baseline’ to be used for the town.

He said: “This comes from the community who want to ensure the review is robust and does not come up with a solution that is just what the council wants it to be.”

However his amendment, which was backed by fellow Conservative councillor Donna Collins was challenged by Councillor Brooke Ritchie, Labour, who said the review could not identify all its data sources before beginning because it has to “follow the data”.

She said: “I do not see how we can answer the questions until we move forward with the review which will follow the data, that is how research works.”

Councillor Lee Ann Menzies, SNP, also backed moving ahead with the review as she spoke about online attacks aimed at councillors, council officers and others, over the parking scheme.

She said: “I have invested everything I have and my husband has in our house in East Lothian, Twenty two councillors have all elected to serve the people of East Lothian and live here. We are all here to do the best for our community.

“We don’t always agree however the vitriol towards councillors and council officers has to stop. The current level of toxicity is damaging and unacceptable.

“I have been subjected to abuse about how I speak, my upbringing and class, others have had much worse.

“The outcome of this independent and robust review will help us rebuild trust. We are all working hard to get the best for our communities and need to get back to that.”

A report on the early weeks of the North Berwick parking management scheme presented to councillors revealed it brought in £111,000 in its first two months from income from on and off street parking meters and residents permits.

This figure did not include money from fines issued with 554 issued between June 16 and the end of July although 145 have since been cancelled.

The review also revealed nearly £59,000 has been spent repairing and replacing 30 meters which were vandalised, some more than once while the ‘extremely high’ level of complaints, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and representations from the community led to a ‘lessons learned’ review.

Councillor Shona McIntosh, Greens, hit back at the vandalism of the machines telling the meeting those involved were not “heroic” or modern day Robin Hoods just “vandals attacking public property”.

Councillors voted by 18 votes to support the review going ahead with four voting for a delay.