Loading bays with cars parked in them for hours. Parking spaces that are only meant to be taken up by a vehicle for one hour before leaving being occupied for most of the working day. A bus stop with three cars parked in it. Disabled parking spaces with cars that have not displayed a blue badge.

In most town centres these infractions would see windscreens emblazoned with parking tickets.

However, in Enniskillen parking wardens are powerless to enforce parking regulations because the new legislation required due to introduction of the public realm scheme and changes to the road layout has not been finalised.

It has to be stressed these drivers are not breaking any laws or parking regulations.

But as a consequence most days now, delivery vans and business vans are mounted on pavements because there is no space for them to park to load or unload their goods. Some are even having to stop in the middle of the road as traffic backs up. It raises the questions whether parking in these spaces just because we can is the right thing to do.

Observed

On Monday, The Impartial Reporter observed the parking situation in the town centre between 9am and 3pm.

Throughout the day, several cars were observed parked in loading bays. Some were using spaces for more than one hour, and a number of them were parking in bus stops.

At Quay lane car park – where motorists must pay – were several empty parking spaces.

On one occasion, a loading bay in town centre had a number of cars parked in it while a local businesses van was forced to edge up onto the footpath.

John Gallagher (inset above), from Gillen’s Greengrocers on Church Street, claims employees working in businesses in the town centre are “culprits for taking advantage of the lack of parking enforcement”.

“There’s five cars across the street from me and most of them work in one shop nearby. To be honest, it is ridiculous. All they’re doing is stopping customers from coming into the shops.”

He knows these people are not breaking the law, but believes it to be “morally wrong”, adding: “Something needs to be done. It’s affecting trade for every business owner.”

Democratic Unionist Councillor Keith Elliott (inset right) has raised the issue at the Council.

He says he has received complaints from older people who have came into the town centre but because parking spaces were not available, “then left Enniskillen again”.

He also spoke to the manager of a shop who claimed one person parked in a loading bay along the main street “before going in to their place of work for the day”.

“We know the [parking] legislation isn’t in place at the minute, so therefore, the people parking on the street aren’t committing an offence.

“But still these are people working within some of the businesses in the town, and it is having a detrimental impact on the local business.”

Councillor Elliott claims the issue is “bringing people away from the town centre at a time of rising costs of everything”.

‘Blocking people’’

“We need people going through the shop doors on our High Street. Unfortunately, the people that are relying on the shoppers to put money into the tills, to pay their wages, are blocking people from doing it.

“As it stands they are not breaking the law but, in my opinion, it is unacceptable. I would be calling on business owners to talk to their staff and ask them not to park on the main street,” he added.

Alliance councillor, Eddie Roofe, believes an effective town bus service would be a solution for traffic congestion in Enniskillen.

“I hope to work with Translink over the coming months and will be aiming to provide some alternatives to the current gridlock,” he said.

Asked when legislation would be passed so parking regulations could be enforced, a spokesperson for the Department of Infrastructure said: “With the introduction of any new public realm scheme, which changes the road layout, new legislation is required to define the updated restrictions.

“This work could not be initiated until the scheme was built to allow for any alterations to the design.

“The legislative process for this is ongoing and will take a number of months to complete.”