Ahead of the kerb

It’s time to face the real impacts of parking – higher costs, lost public space, stretched council budgets, and streets that are less safe and healthy.

Why parking matters

Parking isn’t free – even when it looks like it. Everyone pays for it, whether they drive or not.

Retail prices rise to cover it, while rents and house prices climb when parking is bundled in.

And the poorest end up subsidising the wealthiest, who own more, and larger, cars.

Public space

Half the space of a typical city street goes to parking. That’s land that could instead deliver affordable housing, safe cycle lanes, green space or better bus priority. Instead, kerbsides across Scotland are dominated by private vehicles that sit idle 95% of the time.

Public funds

Parking carries a hidden cost for councils: maintaining streets and kerbs for private cars consumes scarce budgets, leaving less to invest in public transport, walking routes and community facilities.

Public health

Cars already dominate too much of our shared space. They pollute, clog up streets, and make walking or wheeling less safe and less pleasant. The burden falls heaviest on children, older people, and those without cars.

By reforming parking, Scotland can raise vital revenue, cut climate emissions, and deliver a fairer and healthier transport system for everyone, regardless of whether or not they have a car.

What’s the problem with SUVs?

Cars are getting bigger. The growth in Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) means our cars are getting 1cm wider every two years.

These larger, heavier vehicles occupy more space on urban streets and pose greater risks to vulnerable road users.

SUVs take all the above problems and magnify them:

Size: Over 1 million vehicles sold in the UK each year are now too big for standard parking spaces.
Safety: In a collision, SUVs are eight times more likely to kill a child than a smaller car.
Pollution: If SUVs were a country, they’d rank as the world’s fifth-biggest emitter. Even electric SUVs require far more materials and energy to build and run.
Inefficiency: They block visibility, crowd out smaller cars, and reduce space for everyone else in already-congested cities.

SUVs are not only unnecessary in our cities – they are the sharpest example of excess: more space, more danger, more pollution, and more cost to society.

Read our briefing on the rise of SUVs, prepared by Professor Adrian Davis here.

We’re working with local authorities and with campaigns like Carspreading and the SUV Alliance to push for parking policies that make our streets fairer, safer and healthier. Look out for more updates on our channels soon.