New plans from the UK Government to tackle pavement parking in England
RNIB welcomes the announcement of new powers for councils to tackle pavement parking in England, the biggest barrier for blind and partially sighted pedestrians, but we urge government to go further. A new proposal announced this week stops short of a full ban, but instead would give local powers to councils to stop parking in specific areas more easily.
The much awaited policy change comes more than five years after a public consultation on pavement parking in England held under the previous UK government.
What has been proposed?
While RNIB welcomes the announcement as a positive step towards addressing the hazards of pavement parking after years of delays, we are disappointed that it won't provide the consistent approach that we believe is needed.
RNIB Policy lead Erik Matthies said:
“Blind and partially sighted people deserve safe, accessible streets just like everyone else. We urge the Government to deliver a clear, nationwide ban on pavement parking, like that which has existed in London since 1974.
This new proposal suggests a system for England similar to what has been in place in Scotland since 2023. That legislation prohibited pavement parking, but left it up to each local authority to decide how bans and enforcement would work.”
This has resulted in a patchwork, limited by a lack of resources in both councils and the police. Even after two years, only 21 out of the 32 local authorities in Scotland are enforcing pavement parking, and it’s not yet clear how effective this is at keeping pavements clear.
This week’s announcement won't mean change overnight. Legislation will be needed to bring in this change of policy for England, and RNIB and its allies will be pressing MPs to make the policy as effective and meaningful as possible to address this major issue for blind and partially sighted pedestrians.
Background on pavement parking
According to recent RNIB research (In My Way report, 2025) pavement parking is the biggest barrier to pedestrian journeys. Shockingly, 92 per cent of blind and partially sighted people have been forced to move into the road to get around obstacles, the most frequent of which is vehicles parked on pavements, This puts them at higher risk of accidents from traffic they may not see.
The frequency and unpredictability of vehicles parked on pavements makes this a common and exhausting problem, resulting in people with sight loss going out less or needing to rely on sighted companions just to get around their local area.
The impact of these barriers is demonstrated in RNIB findings: Only 9 per cent of blind and partially sighted people strongly agree that they feel safe making independent walking journeys in their neighbourhood, while 61 per cent say that they are not able to make all of the journeys they want or need to,
The knock on impact of pavement parking
Pavement parking also contributes to uneven surfaces, potholes and other damage, leading to the second-biggest barrier to blind and partially sighted pedestrians: poor quality of the pavement. Councils have to spend extra resources re-patching pavement surfaces damaged by vehicles parked there, especially as cars get bigger and heavier, meaning that pavements are buckling under loads that they were not built for.
Read more on accessible streets
In September 2025 RNIB published the In My Way report, highlighting the barriers, like pavement parking, preventing many people with sight loss from independently carrying out essential pedestrian journeys.
