Friday January 16th 2026
Glasgow City Chambers
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Catherine Hunter
Claims that introducing parking control zones could have a negative impact on women’s safety in Glasgow has been refuted by the city council leader.
During this week’s operational and scrutiny committee, concerns were raised by councillor Stephen Docherty that southside residents were worried the introduction of parking control zones, designed to reduce commuter parking, improve traffic flow and enhance safety for pedestrians/cyclists, could impact women’s safety.
Council leader Susan Aitken said she believed there had been a “misunderstanding” of the scheme and that parking zones would make it more likely for people to get a space near their home rather than less.
Councillor Docherty said: “There are a lot of irate people in the southside of Glasgow regarding this and one of the things I have not seen in the paper is details on women’s safety.
“A lot of people feel that coming home at night that they are going to have a problem parking their cars and they are not going to move their car because they are not going to get parked again.
“I know they have no guarantee that they are going to get a car parking space outside the door or 100 metres away but it might end up being half a mile or more.
“There is nothing in the paper to discuss that.”
A council officer said that women’s safety is a key consideration in the development of any scheme that the council takes forward, be it parking, active travel or the bus corridor.
Councillor Susan Aitken said: “The intention of residential parking control schemes is to make it more likely that residents will be able to get a parking space, not less.
“At the moment, in actual fact, the pressures on parking in densely populated highly tenement areas mean that people are not able to park near their homes but by giving priority to residents and businesses, people will have more likelihood of being able to get a parking space in their local neighbourhood.
“Albeit we are not able to give guarantees because there are no entitlements to parking on what is shared public space.
“It seems to me there is quite a bit of misunderstanding. This is about relieving parking pressures first and foremost and environmental benefits would be a side benefit rather than the main point of the scheme.”
A council officer confirmed that the scheme is being designed to ease pressure on residents and residents where there are commuter pressures.
The aim is to put residents’ needs first and promote road safety.
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