THE merits of ‘disc parking’ schemes for East Lothian town centres are being examined.

Complaints over lack of vehicle parking spaces and congestion in the main towns have long been voiced by members of the public and community councillors.

The introduction of traffic wardens has helped but East Lothian Council is now looking at a variety of options in a bid to further improve traffic flow.

Last Monday, Councillor Norman Hampshire, the local authority’s environment spokesperson, told a meeting of Dunbar Community Council: “People have seen improvement with the traffic wardens on High Street.

“On days when we have wardens [in Dunbar], there are lots of parking spaces [available] but when they are not in the town there are problems.

“The council is now going to consider whereby people will take a ticket off a machine which shows the time you arrive.”

The councillor stressed that there would be no charge for the ticket, similar to ‘disc parking’ schemes already in operation elsewhere in the country, such as Dumfries and Galloway.

Towns including Stranraer, Dumfries and Langholm use the system, with the discs stocked by local shops.

Visitors and residents set the disc to the time when they have parked and display it for traffic wardens to see.

Another option for towns such as Dunbar would be to introduce residents’ permits for those living on its High Street, with a similar scheme already in place for residents on Haddington High Street.

Jacquie Bell, secretary at Dunbar Community Council, noted that a disc parking system would be cheaper and easier to introduce than new ticket machines.

However, it was also highlighted that the disc system could be abused as it relied on the honesty of motorists.

Mr Hampshire added: “We are looking at different options. We have heard from the traders that there has been improvements in turnover in cars and people using their premises. But it has been noticed that, when the traffic wardens are not in the town, cars tend to be there quite a long time.”

The idea of a disc parking system was also discussed at North Berwick Community Council’s May meeting.

At that time, concerns were raised about how easy it would be to monitor.

A spokeswoman for East Lothian Council told the Courier that a number of options were being considered.

She said: “We are considering various proposals and measures to improve parking turnover, accommodate residents’ parking and encourage compliance with the regulations.

“However, these are still under discussion, with no firm proposals at the moment.”