Part IV Parking Places

Provision of off-street parking, and parking on roads without payment

32 Power of local authorities to provide parking places.

(1)

Where for the purpose of relieving or preventing congestion of traffic it appears to a local authority to be necessary to provide within their area suitable parking places for vehicles, the local authority, subject to Parts I to III of Schedule 9 to this Act—

(a)

may provide off-street parking places (whether above or below ground and whether or not consisting of or including buildings) together with means of entrance to and egress from them, or

(b)

may by order authorise the use as a parking place of any part of a road within their area, not being a road the whole or part of the width of which is within Greater London.

(2)

A local authority may adapt for use as, or for providing means of entrance to or egress from, a parking place any land acquired or appropriated by them for the purposes of this section, and may, with the consent of the authority or person responsible for the maintenance of a road, adapt any part of it for the purpose of providing means of entrance to or egress from a parking place.

(3)

Any power conferred by this section to provide a parking place includes power to maintain it (if below ground) and to maintain buildings comprised in it, and to provide and maintain any cloakroom or other convenience for use in connection with it; and references in other provisions of this section to parking places shall accordingly be construed as including references to any such conveniences.

(4)

In this section and in sections 33 to 41 of this Act—

(a)

“local authority”, in relation to England and Wales, means (subject to section 36(3)) the council of a county, London borough or district . . . F1 or the Common Council of the City of London and, in relation to Scotland, means F2council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994;

(b)

“parking place” means a place where vehicles, or vehicles of any class, may wait;

and for the purposes of this section and of sections 33 to 41 of this Act, an underground parking place shall not be deemed to be part of a road by reason only of its being situated under a road.