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National news Round-up of stories affecting the profession across the UK Six years to map a car park Gareth Wild spent more than six years parking in and reviewing each of the 211 parking spaces excluding disabled and motorcycle bays at his local Sainsburys in Bromley, Kent, completing the challenge on 27 April this year. News of the project went viral on social media, with many commenters thanking him for his comprehensive guide and asking him what criteria he had used to categorise the spaces from god tier to useful to avoid. After seeing the interest, Wild asked for donations to his local food bank, and his branch of Lidl offered to donate to charity for every 10 spaces he parks in at its store. It turns out theres a lot of questions about car parks, Wild said. Various companies have asked if they could buy the rights to the story, from using it in magazines to wanting to make a film out of it. Im not sure if the world is ready for a film about the high-octane world of car parking. Debt Relief Order response The BPA is disappointed that the government response to the Debt Relief Order (DRO) consultation on raising the three monetary eligibility requirements that an individual must meet before being able to obtain a DRO does not address its concerns around parking debt. Our response to the government consultation was clear. We support raising the asset values owned by debtors; however, we object to penalty charge notice (PCN) debt central and local government debt, such as council tax, said Sarah Greenslade, BPA public affairs and PCN debt is not accrued debt, and there are measures in place already vulnerable. This, in effect, undermines the integrity of being able to enforce the The government intends to lay legislation in parliament at the beginning of this month, that will increase: The value of assets allowed to be owned by the debtor from 1,000 to 2,000, as proposed in the consultation The value of a single motor vehicle that can be disregarded from the total value of assets from 1,000 to 2,000 The level of surplus income received by the debtor before payments should be made to creditors from 50 to 75 per month The total debt allowable for a DRO from 20,000 to 30,000, as proposed in the consultation. These changes will come into force at the end of June, to coincide with the end of In due course, the government will be looking to issue a Call for Evidence on the whole personal insolvency landscape. These changes will apply to England and Wales only, because personal insolvency is devolved to Scotland and Northern Ireland. Delay for Scotlands pavement parking ban Scotlands Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity, Michael Matheson, has said that enforcement of the new pavement parking ban, brought in by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, will not begin until 2023. Matheson told a Moving the Vote online election hustings, organised by sustainable transport lobby group Transform Scotland, that the multi-stage process for introducing the legislation had been delayed by the Covid pandemic. The guidance to local authorities on its implementation was not expected to be complete until this summer. Councils will then need to carry out assessments of which streets should be exempt from the ban before any enforcement provisions can begin. Matheson also spoke about recognition of the value of active travel, for which investment has more than doubled over the past few years. This year, 115.5m is available for active travel programmes and there is a commitment to invest 500m in infrastructure over next parliamentary term. You can hear more from the Moving the Vote: transport conversations with the Scottish National Party at bit.ly/PNJun21PP 8 britishparking.co.uk PN June 2021 pp08-09 News.indd 8 21/05/2021 10:57