Parking rules are Poles apart

IT is an example of the power of diplomacy.

Staff at the Polish Consulate on Kinnear Road, Inverleith, were hit with a traffic nightmare after parking restrictions were introduced nearby.

But, while ordinary residents have been left to battle with commuters to find a space outside their homes, the consulate went straight to the top.

And now Edinburgh City Council is set to reserve three spaces on the leafy street for the Polish staff. The street is just outside the controlled parking zone and is inundated with commuters leaving their cars before getting a bus into the city centre.

The dedicated consular spaces are set to be in place next month.

The Polish consulate today defended the ruling, claiming the move was necessary because of the activity of its diplomats.

But Tory group leader Iain Whyte, whose Inverleith ward includes the Polish consulate, said they should not be considered ahead of residents.

He said: "This is an area which we have been told, in time, will be included in the controlled parking zone to tackle this problem of commuter parking.

"I have no objection to the consulate getting reserved spaces but all I ask is that residents who are also suffering from the same problems as the consulate are treated fairly as well.

"Why does it take three to four months to get this sorted out but residents in the same street are looking at two years for a controlled parking zone?"

The majority of Edinburgh's consulates and embassies are in the city centre and as such they are not entitled to reserved parking spaces because of the pressure on the number of spaces.

However, consul generals in the city are permitted to leave their cars, which have special licence plates, in pay-and-display bays free of charge.

Alexander Ditkow, consul general of the Polish consulate, said "There is a strange situation where our street is the first street free of charge after the parking zone, so we have a lot of people from out of town parking in our street.

"This means it is not possible for our diplomats to find spaces so this is why we have asked for the spaces outside."

The Inverleith controlled parking zone was introduced a year ago.

Councillor Phil Wheeler, the city's transport leader, said: "A request for diplomatic parking bays received from the Polish Consulate was considered and no objections were lodged when this application was advertised publicly. The street in question is located outwith the controlled parking zone and an assessment of the road outside the consulate building found that providing these spaces was unlikely to impinge on residential parking, as nearby houses have off-road parking space."