CITY centre residents will be able to buy visitors' parking permits for the first time under plans being considered by council leaders.

The visitors permits – which allow guests to park for half the price of pay-and-display parking – are only currently available to people living in the recently opened new areas of the controlled parking zone.

The permits were introduced last year to make life easier for tradespeople, carers and visiting family and friends.

But residents in the city centre have complained that the situation is unfair on them because their visitors are forced to pay at meters.

A visitor pass costs £1.20 for a 90-minute stay and residents are limited to 150 of them a year.

Councillor Norma Hart, who initially called for a report into the visitor permits being extended to the city centre, said she also wants to see residents given the chance to buy the passes individually instead of in books of ten, as is currently the case.

"It seems to me that we should be trying to make the most of the spaces that we have," she said. "During the day, there are a lot of permit-holder spaces lying empty while the pay and displays are full.

"We need to look at ways of catering for visitors equally across the city, not just in the extended controlled zones."

City transport leader Phil Wheeler said he recognised the logic of creating a level playing field across the city but said more work would need to be done to ensure it is workable.

And opposition politicians warned that officials would need to guard against potential abuse of the system by commuters.

Earlier this year, council chiefs ordered a review of every pay-and-display bay to see whether they could be of "shared use" – these bays can be used by residents with a permit or visiting motorists to pay for parking.

Other permits, including trades' and retailers' passes, have also been introduced by the council to try to cater for the growing parking pressure on the city's businesses.

Councillor Wheeler said: "I can see the logic but there are a number of different pressures, particularly in the original zone, that need to be considered. I would like to see a report on the different issues this would throw up and whether it is practical to extend the scheme.

"It is also probably a useful point to see how the visitor parking permits have gone down."

The first phase of the extension of the controlled parking zone got under way last September, covering Marchmont, the Grange, Hillside and Broughton.

By November, nine new controlled parking zones will have been added to the original central area.

An Evening News investigation in January revealed that 10,000 parking permits had been sold to people in the centre of Edinburgh - although there are only 7800 residents' bays.

Mark McInnes, the city's Conservative transport spokesman, said: "If people who live in the central zones feel aggrieved at not being given a level playing field, then it is something we should look at.

"The one concern I have is that we don't undermine the whole point of the residential permit zones.

"You wouldn't want the opportunity for people to abuse any visitor parking, particularly commuters."

Cllr Hart will have a motion calling for a report into the visitor permits' extension considered at the inaugural meeting of the transport, infrastructure and environment committee on September 25th.

HOW THE CAPITAL ROLLS OUT RESTRICTIONS
Residents’ Parking Permits
Residents’ permits are available to people living within the Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs).

They cost £160 for 12 months in the central areas and £80 in the peripheral and extension areas.

Visitors’ Parking Permits
Visitors’ parking permits are only available to residents in the extended controlled parking zones. They cost £1.20 for a 90-minute stay but residents are limited to only 150 of them a year.

Pay and Display Bays
There are almost 500 pay and display machines and about 5500 parking spaces in Edinburgh.

Depending on the location, parking costs between 70p and £1.80 an hour with parking allowed somewhere between 15 minutes and six hours.

However, in the central zone stays are usually limited to between 30 minutes and four hours.

Retailers’ Parking Permits
Retail permits are available to firms needing a car for essential daily operations, so long as the car is marked up with livery.

Each company is allowed one permit, which is valid for the parking zone in that area.

Permits cost £300 a year in the new extended CPZ, and £400 in the peripheral zone. They are not allowed to be used in the central zone.

Trades Parking Permits
This is a £1000 permit for tradespeople with liveried vehicles.

The firms are allowed an unlimited number of passes and this allows them free parking in any pay-and-display bay in the city.

However, the business must be an appropriate trade, such as a decorator or plumber, and must also pay business rates.