The first restrictions designed to deal with pavement parking in Swindon could come into force this autumn.

Members of the council’s Building A Better Swindon Committee heard from officer Philip Martlew that cabinet had approved the committee’s recommendation to enable bringing in experimental traffic regulation orders to prevent parking on the sidewalk.

He said: “The proposal is to start with one trial area. I’d like views on the timescale of inviting bids from councillors for one of their areas to be considered.

Mr Martlew said when 20mph zones were being considered, it had been practice to invite comment from, and consult with, with parish councils, and he said that might add a delay to implementation of any scheme.

Members were keen to get on with it and councillor Neil Hopkins said he believed those where the problems were most acute would already know where they might want to see an order: “There are wards where it is more of a problem and I think we should move quite quickly.”

One member, councillor Gary Sumner said he thought selecting a trial area and consulting residents and the parish council could be done quickly: “I’d like to see it done swiftly and I think aiming for October for the first trial would be reasonable.

Cllr Sumner was also keen to see something done about the parking on the pavement in Commercial Road.

He said: “I look out onto Commercial Road at work.

“In a lot of areas, pavement parking is not too bad - it’s not a problem in my ward, in Old Town it’s mostly okay – but it’s the Wild West in Commercial Road.

“When I try and pull my car out, I cannot see what’s coming because there is a van permanently parked, there are motorbikes, there are cars as well.

“It’s shockingly unsafe.”

Mr Martlew said the double yellow lines on the highway applied to the public pavement as well although some of the pavement was private land belonging to the businesses.

 He said there was sufficient regulation to prevent parking on the public pavement, but the issue was having sufficient enforcement.

Chairman of the committee Councillor Junab Ali said he agreed with Cllr Sumner and wanted the committee to continue to look to prevent pavement parking in Commercial Road.

The committee agreed to have councillors sent guidance and invitations on what they might need to do before nominating an area for a trial restriction, which would last 18 months maximum.

Once an area is selected there would be a period of public and parish council consultation before implementation.