Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Government’s response of 8 January 2026 to the Pavement parking: options for change consultation, whether the research commissioned by her Department will include (a) measurement of physical damage to footways attributable to pavement parking and (b) an estimate of the annual cost to local authorities of repairing such damage.

The research announced on 8 January 2026 focuses on measuring the current prevalence and impacts of pavement parking, providing a baseline against which the effects of future legislation can be measured.

This study will include a measure of public satisfaction with pavement condition, but not a direct measure of physical damage attributable specifically to pavement parking. We are also working with a sample of local authorities to collect data on the financial impacts to local authorities, including the annual costs of pavement maintenance arising from pavement parking.