The Communication Award: Project Centre & City of Edinburgh

British Parking Awards 2021

Over recent years, the City of Edinburgh has seen an increase in the number complaints received regarding parking issues from across the city. In August 2018, the City of Edinburgh Council’s transport and environment committee approved the commencement of a Strategic Review of Parking that would look at parking pressures across the whole city with the aim of producing a plan to address the issues holistically. T

he review saw the city split into 124 areas. Those with the highest impact would be considered for parking controls to unify various pockets of measures already in existence. These would then be developed across four phases, with a focus on nine areas with the highest-pressure scores being consulted in Phase 1.

The council appointed Project Centre to undertake engagement on the key elements of the proposals in advance of any formal advertising of a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO). The key elements included the proposed introduction of permit holder parking, shared use parking, pay & display, ‘No Waiting at Any Time’ restrictions (double yellow lines) and time banded ‘No Waiting’ restrictions (single yellow lines).

The engagement gave members of resident groups, community councils, businesses and residents the opportunity to view, comment and advise on the council’s proposals so that it could be determined if controls would be welcomed in the areas. It was also an opportunity for amendments to be considered prior to finalising the design and advertisement of TROs.

To introduce the Strategic Review of Parking and engage the local communities on potential solutions to congestion in the city. This included engaging on the concepts of controlled parking zones to nine localities in Edinburgh. Project Centre started with stakeholder mapping of each area, ensuring that local community and parish councils were included in the early communications prior to the start of engagement. This was to garner fore-knowledge and start the conversations around the engagement.

The creation of a web page, interactive map and online survey was considered the most effective approach for wide coverage without the addition of manually entering hard copy surveys. The webpage displayed all the relevant area information for people to view and through the interactive map and survey they could provide feedback and comments regarding the proposals.

Leaflets were designed, printed and delivered to the nine consultation areas, over a one-week period. The leaflets displayed maps of all the areas under consideration for changes, information regarding the background which led to the proposals and signposted online and to drop-in sessions. In the information, it was stated that people could request large-print, Braille, tape-versions, and other computer formats should they require.

E-mails were sent out to local community groups, community councils and parish councils, advising of the official engagement commencement and inviting them to view and comment on the proposals. Drop-in sessions were arranged, advertised and hosted by the project team, in order for people to inspect large-print drawings of the proposals and discuss their concerns and answer any questions in person. Multiple areas were covered in each of the drop-in sessions, which were staggered at different times and locations in order to make them as accessible as possible to ensure everyone has the opportunity to attend.

In total, six drop-in sessions were held over a two-week period, which were supported by Project Centre staff as well as council staff. The sessions were well attended with around 200 people over the course of drop-in sessions, and many questions and concerns raised and answered. Over 1,300 responses were received to the online consultation and over 600 comments plotted on interactive maps. The analysis of the comments was presented in a clear and concise report to the council with a breakdown of the findings for each individual area. This laid the ground for rolling out the next phases of the programme.