Calls for a ban on overnight parking on a road described as 'dangerous' by residents have been rejected after councillors ruled the parked vehicles reduced speeding.
A petition calling for action to be taken to make the road in Haddington safer received 356 signatures and was brought before East Lothian Council's petitions and community empowerment committee yesterday.
However claims the local authority had ignored traffic concerns for seven years were disputed by its roads team who said the street was regularly reviewed and action, which could be done to improve it had been.
READ MORE: Hundreds sign East Lothian petition calling for action on 'dangerous' road
The petition called for Dunbar Road, one of Haddington's main entrance roads from the A1, to be made safer with parking bans, double yellow lines and pedestrian crossings among changes requested.
It called for action to be taken to stop drivers parking on the main road and using it as a ‘pit stop; with claims vehicles have parked overnight while people sleep in them.
Initially lodged by petitioner Shirley Bisset, the petition sought to “make Dunbar Road safer for everyone, particularly residents living on Abbots View, Riverside Drive, Artillery Park, etc.”
During a virtual meeting of the committee Alan Stubbs, the council's road services manager said a traffic survey on the road in 2019 found the average speed of traffic on it was around 17 miles an hour and the average number of vehicles at 8,219 was normal for an A road like Dunbar Road.
And he told councillors more than 90 per cent of vehicles using the road at the time were cars and vans, despite claims from the petition that it was used heavily by artic lorries and agricultural vehicles.
Mr Stubbs said: "This is what we would expect on a road of this nature."
The roads manager said the speed limit on the road had been reduced from 30 mph to 20mph in line with other town centre reductions introduced to create safer spaces and there were plans to move a bus shelter to a better crossing position.
And he argued against calls for a parking ban on the street saying the cars acted as "speed calming measures" by making drivers slow down to safely pass them.
The committee agreed not to order any further action in response to the petition.
Councillor Norman Hampshire, who chaired the committee, said: "I am satisfied our officers have taken appropriate action to deal with issues here and there is no further action needed."
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