§ Mr. Banksasked the Minister of Transport whether he intends to confirm the previous Administration's decision to implement from 1 October 1980 the footway parking ban in section 7 of the Road Traffic Act 1974.
§ Mr. FowlerIn consultation with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, I have decided that this additional task should not be imposed on local authorities and the police when the need to reduce public expenditure is overriding. We reached this con-632W clusion following representations from the English and Scottish local authority associations and from the police. Local authorities already have powers to ban parking on particular stretches of footway, and yellow line waiting restrictions apply to the footway as well as the carriageway. Of course heavy commercial vehicles are also prohibited from parking on footways.
Against this background we are therefore deciding to defer implementing section 7 at least for the time being.