Wednesday May 27th 2026
Parking attendant
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
A West Lothian town which has gathered 900 signatures against parking charges is set to reissue its petition.
The move comes as the council launches a public consultation on the introduction of Decriminalised Parking Enforcement.
Donald Stavert of Bathgate Community Council said the reissue of the petition and community survey would “hope to influence” a final decision.
He told a meeting of the town’s Local Area Committee this week that “nothing had changed”.
The community council supports enforcement, but not parking charges.
As first reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) in April last year, the local initiative rejected initia West Lothian proposals to introduce parking charges in the town.
Instead the Bathgate survey called for traffic wardens to enforce parking regulation, and parking discs to manage time limits on high streets. It rejected a suggestion to charge for car parks including at Bathgate station.
Mr Stavert said: “We are going to be reposting our survey as part of the consultation process. We have a petition of 900 signatures and we think this will be better ammunition to influence a final decision.”
Bathgate will be one of the first communities to see the new DPE rules come into force in mid to late 2027.
“We are going to present that petition and hope to influence the decision in a reasonable way. We are happy to take part in the consultation.”
West Lothian Council officer Jack Wiggins told the meeting that the plan was to prepare a business case for the introduction of council managed parking by the end of the year.
Once presented to Transport Scotland the application to take control of parking management will take around 18 months.
He stressed that the council was keen to hear from as many people as possible in the consultation. We want to reach as far and as wide as we can.”
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Councillor Pauline Stafford asked if links to the initial parking strategy presented by the council could be included in the consultation presented on the council’s web page. Mr Wiggins agreed that would be a good idea.
Councillor Willie Boyle expressed concerns about the potential over spill of parking on streets out with the town centre should charges be introduced.
Chairing the meeting Councillor Harry Cartmill lauded the work done by the community council.
“The community council came up with proposals that had a lot of support. It is a very good plan, pragmatic and sensible. I would welcome as much public engagement as possible.”
DPE transfers management of parking to the council. It can hire its own wardens or contract enforcement out, as many local authorities do.
The results of the public consultation will be presented to the council’s Executive in the Autumn.
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