Residents of cities are aware, first hand, of the huge problem that arises with the vehicles they park where they arrive, apartment occupants, who have no more than one parking space in the apartment buildings in which they live. There are thousands of cases of families living in apartments and owning two or even three cars. The same goes for houses. The result; Most vehicles are parked on the streets, along roads, on sidewalks, etc., thus preventing the movement of pedestrians, especially the elderly, paraplegics and parents in wheelchairs. The issue has been raised several times before the Parliament, as a serious problem is created with the current legislation, which concerns the parking spaces required for the issuance of urban and building permits in houses, and especially in apartment buildings.
As of today, most vehicles, especially apartment buildings, are not covered by licensed car parks. The intention, as expressed by the Parliament, was to amend the legislation, so that all, or almost all, of the residents' vehicles are covered by the required parking spaces, especially in the case of apartment buildings. In this regard, the former MP of Ecologists George Perdikis had addressed relevant letters to the Ministry of Interior, asking to be informed of his intentions.
The Ministry of Interior, with its letters to the Parliament – in the archive there is a letter of Mr. Neoklis Silikiotis from January 2011, although it acknowledged that the problem is very serious and exacerbated from year to year, however, it rejected, in all cases brought before him, the possibility of amending existing legislation. With the ministry citing, inter alia, the following reasons:
- Increasing the requirements for securing additional parking spaces per housing unit is impossible, given the dimensions of the standard plot that has been applied for many decades in Cyprus.
- Increasing the demand for additional parking spaces will burden the prices of acquiring a house and an apartment, in a disproportionate and excessive degree, given the cost for additional basements within a plot.
According to the Police and the municipal authorities, which are responsible for the implementation of the law, the phenomenon of illegal parking on sidewalks has to do with the lack of social sensitivity and community awareness by many citizens, who choose to park their vehicles in sidewalks, and parking is available.
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