Friday March 13th 2026
Parking ticket
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
A U-turn on a decision to divert cash raised from parking charges to help balance Scottish Borders Council’s books will be on the agenda next week.
At a meeting of the council’s Executive Committee last month it was agreed not to carry forward unspent surpluses from parking taxes into the next financial year.
This meant that £290k raised from across the region would not be used for investment in projects in the towns where the charges were raised, but instead help plug an overall gap in the local authority’s budget.
It was a decision which angered Galashiels SNP councillor Fay Sinclair who estimated that a large chunk of that cash, amounting to £200k, had been pledged for investment in her town.
Now Councillor Sinclair is to challenge the decision at a meeting of SBC’s Scrutiny & Petitions Committee when it meets on Thursday, March 19.
She is asking members to call-in the decision and carry unspent balances forward for use in the specific locations the charges were raised.
She has the support of five fellow councillors – Viv Thomson; Neil Mackinnon; Hannah Steel; Marshall Douglas and Annette Smart.
A submission to the committee states: “We consider that the surpluses raised through paid car parking should be carried forward for use in the settlements in which they were generated.
“We believe this decision should be reviewed so that the council ensures it is acting in line with current council policy on the spend of pay parking surplus.”
The council’s call-in procedure is set out within the Scheme of Administration and provides a mechanism by which Executive Committee decisions may be reviewed before implementation.
At last month’s Executive Committee, David Robertson, SBC’s chief executive, said: “The discussion we are having here is about an unspent sum of money that you want to carry forward to do more projects.
“That’s where I’m saying, in this financial situation we’re in, the officer advice would be you have to balance the budget first.”
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