Highland Council have played down fears of a loss of parking in Inverness city centre as two new “car club” schemes come into force.
The new system will see 16 vehicles available for hire in dedicated bays around the city centre, which will be available to members of the club scheme run by private operators Europcar and Enterprise.
Similar schemes already exist in other cities across Scotland – and a further roll-out is expected in Fort William, Wick and Thurso.
Concerns had been raised before the scheme launched about the loss of existing spaces – but this was played down yesterday by the council’s principal traffic officer.
Shane Manning admitted there had been concerns but said the scheme made use of loading bays instead of replacing existing parking.
Mr Manning said: “There was some concerns raised by members of the public but I’ve got to say the vast majority of the car club bays are brand new provisions.
“They didn’t exist before. We’re not displacing anybody.
“There were a couple of locations that were previously allocated as loading provision but as a result of us taking over parking enforcement we realised that there was spare provision for loading and we adjusted it appropriately.
“We’ve not displaced any pay and display, we’ve not displaced any disabled parking.”
Councillor Allan Henderson, community services chairman, believes concerns may have emerged because of the council’s changes as a result of new parking enforcement in the city.
He said: “We were having to put down new lines and take away other ones so the two issues were kind of mixed up.”
He said his experience with the West Wheels Car Club which already operates in the Mallaig area is that car clubs have been a “great success”.
He added: “People coming up from the cities, flying up or coming by train, are used to hiring so it’s just something that is expected in Inverness as a city the same as the rest.”
These vehicles allow self-service vehicles to be made available for hire by the hour if drivers join one of the car clubs.
Tom Usher, business development director for Europcar said their vehicles are either hybrid or fully electric to make the service environmentally friendly.
Keith Stark, business regional sales executive for Enterprise Car Club, said: “It’s all about getting cars used efficiently in terms of getting cars used by businesses and private individuals.”
He said his company was hoping to make a van available as part of the scheme.