Tuesday June 9th 2026
Glasgow Council Chamber
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Catherine Hunter
Concerns over the number of Glasgow residents converting their front gardens into driveways as a result of parking enforcement have been raised by a local councillor.
During last week’s city administration committee councillor Jon Molyneux pointed out that there seemed to be a link between the two.
It comes as the local authority develops its City Development Plan 2 which highlights where new developments can take place and what the council’s priorities should be for future areas.
Councillor Molyneux said: “I have a question about the nature and sustainability aspects of the report. There is an awful lot that’s really good and really positive so I welcome that.
“There are also things that will cause concern for people around greenbelt release. Some of that is still subject to guidance from Scottish National Heritage that doesn’t exist yet necessarily.
“I guess there is a little nervousness on how we will actually determine what the baseline is for biodiversity loss and enhancement.
“On a much smaller scale, there are issues with greenspace and biodiversity loss that aren’t necessarily going to be subject to planning controls.
“There is an interconnection here with the car parking proposals in the plan which again are welcome but there is an increasing problem with people seeing more parking controls and reduced parking on the street, converting their front gardens into hardstanding.
“Unless it is a conservation area, that’s currently not within the scope of planning control. There’s a sense we are doing some really good things in one place, but we are losing quite a significant amount of land that provides nature solutions.”
A council officer confirmed that residents are allowed to turn their gardens into a parking area provided the parking is permeable for rain runoff.
They said: “So if someone does put in front garden parking outside the conservation area it is not under planning control as long as its permeable.
“So it’s looking to the permitted development rights, we are looking to mitigate that issue with run off hard surfaces in front gardens otherwise it is outside planning control as it is legislative except in conservation areas where we do have control.”
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