Parking availability in Dunbar isn’t as bad as people make out. There are quite a few areas that are under-utilised and there are only a few problem areas. I’ve heard all the objections about the on street facilities, and frankly most of them don’t warrant a great deal of attention. You cannot park outside your favourite store at Ocean Terminal, so why would you expect to in Dunbar?
There should be policies to ensure that the car parks are the primary choices for visitors rather than the High Street itself. In fact currently it is just a bit too easy to park on the High Street, except in the middle of the day, but name me a single place on the planet where this would not be the case? Is this what people are afraid of losing – the ability to use their car as a shopping trolley/umbrella?
The problems. Some people prefer not to pay for parking at the railway station, which is understandable (but cheaper than parking in the city), so park in public spaces. Connected to this, there’s the conflict between public spaces and private spaces. And finally there’s a high concentration of people that live in town who are wholly reliant on public places. As I see it, anyone using the train is doing us all a favour, so lets not pick on them. If they park their car somewhere for 10-12 hours, that alone is a good thing. Parked cars don’t kill and they stop polluting. Lets progress the adoption of the Station Road and free car parking at the station, and double or treble the space available there and increase the number of people using the train, which in turn should encourage companies to lay on better services. Most journeys are multi model and always involve some walking, and may include the use of the car.
The private parking versus public parking issues is a prickly one though. But here’s the thing, each time a private space is created, there’s a good chance that a public space possibly two are lost and, this adds insult to injury, the beneficiary continues to use the free public spaces. I feel that this transfer from the public to the private has been overlooked by planners when granting planning permissions, and, leaving aside that front gardens are paved over and that this diminishes the streetscape. This needs to stop, as it also changes the streetscene. (The High Street itself is dominated by parked and moving cars, making less room for people.)
Residential parking schemes. The primary rationale for residential parking schemes is the high density of owner occupiers living in or close to the centre of the town. It is likely that car ownership is much lower than elsewhere, a good thing, so the predicted provision should not be high. The fact is that right now provision is zero – ie no resident parking exists – only private, so public places are used instead. But lets be imaginative. There are plenty of private parking areas around Dunbar, associated with housing associations, that could be made available to High Street and Church street residents. ELC could manage a resident permitting system as it does for North Berwick and Haddington. Residents schemes have advantages over private schemes as they will increase occupancy (typically social schemes over-provide – take a look around the town and you will see what I mean). Residents schemes would benefit a number of business owners, who live on or near the High Street, and who also lack any dedicated provision. Residents schemes have a calming effect on traffic because they tend to be low turnover, and coupled with other measures to encourage people not to park on the High Street, should encourage better patronage of the car parking facilities already available. This should also mean pressure is relieved on the public places.
Other private areas at the Co-op and The Factory store are underutilised, not just the public sites. The old Arcade site by the sea should be opened up, even if only temporarily, as this would not entail driving additional traffic on to the High Street. Freeing up these private sites would almost certainly increase patronage of these out of the way shops, and encourage people to visit the shoreline/harbour, which for many are invisible (you’ve not the urban myth about the family who didn’t realise they lived by the sea?). If the existing facilities and a new approach were put in place the main drag would see less congestion and increase the feeling of safety for pedestrians and other road users. So what is holding back use of the existing facilities? My view is that the High Street is the first choice for most people – that is it too easy to park there – another reason not to add parking spurs off it, such as at Abbeylands.
But if all the above looks a bit complicated, we could start with some very simple measures that would not cost much. Signposting all the facilities better, primarily towards the Leisure Pool and Co-op. Getting the parking wardens /police / traders to actively promote car parks, rather than parking on street or in residential areas. Traders might benefit from running an incentive scheme, whereby if shoppers demonstrate they used the long term parking facilities they’d get something back. People who are walking browse longer and spend more, no longer worrying about getting a ticket. Also some restructuring of the spaces in the main public areas to increase capacity might be worthwhile looking into, as well as some enforcement for poor parking (another complaint I often hear – but do they mean me?). The Bleachingfield, Lauderdale and the Leisure Pool are rarely at capacity, but have plenty of scope for increasing capacity, and, importantly, without necessarily encouraging traffic onto the High Street first.
At the same time lets improve on street parking for the disabled, currently badly located, and create many more facilities for vehicle unloading – we need more than 2 unloading bays. Double parking causes significant problems and reduces the feeling of pedestrian safety. In fact, I would favour creating more diversity in the High Street arrangements, reducing it a bit, but including at least some very short stay as part of the mix – to increase turnover and decrease illegal parking acts. Reductions in availability should account for residents long term needs.
In time, if summer seasonal flows increase, we could consider creating an overflow SUDS car parking facility on the south side of the existing leisure pool parking, though at the moment occasional summer / event related peaks simply require some short term measures and adaptations. I’d also consider looking specifically at hot spots, like the Post Office and posting box, and the Co-ops come to mind and invest time in devising different arrangements there – or encourage them to relocate where short term parking might be easier, if that is the customer they are principally serving. Other stores take note.
The very last thing we need is our local politicians to make up policies for parking on the hoof and promulgate them in the press. Let’s leave that to Mr Pickles and ensure the anarchy this encourages stays well south of the border. The common sense test of such policies usually fails to consider unintended consequences (e.g. that it’s OK to park anywhere, including private land) and certainly misses the bigger picture (to reduce car dependency and substitute short journeys by public transport, cycling and walking). There it is.