BUMPER to bumper, parked at a proximity that even a decade ago would have been considered discourteous, vehicles have clogged up every inch of the roadside along Clairmont Gardens. BMWs, 4x4s, white vans, minis and estates sit side by side as residents battle it out with businessmen, commuters and city centre shoppers for that rare commodity - a parking space.

On the nearby streets that hug the south side of Glasgow's Kelvingrove Park in the city's west end, the picture - until very recently - was the same. The worst spots would see double or even triple parking and, if you arrived at the wrong time of day, you could expect to join a depressing convoy of vehicles doing a 5mph circuit of the one-way systems in the hope that someone ahead would be leaving.

As car use across the UK has rocketed, this is a snapshot that can now be found in most major cities.

In Glasgow's west end, the situation has been much improved by the introduction of new parking zones, which have seen charges levied along streets where parking was traditionally free. Despite fierce opposition from businesses and residents initially, it is now credited by the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce with freeing up spaces. A similar expansion of metered parking has occurred in Edinburgh, primarily with the aim of dissuading commuters from flooding the roadside spaces that would otherwise be available for shoppers, businesses and residents.

But Glasgow's city planners hope to achieve far more than solving a local parking problem. For them, the use of parking charges is potentially a policy tool that can open up a new, Scotland-wide front in the war against traffic.

The rationale is explained in the council's Local Transport Strategy, which states that expanding the application of parking charges would be the "single most effective means" of reducing private car use and persuading people to walk, cycle or take public transport.

The reasoning is simple: unlike taxis, trains or buses, cars require a "trip end" or destination parking space. By restricting parking provision in new-build houses and by wider use of roadside parking meters, motorists can be steered away from congestion hotspots.

Although its remit currently only extends to roadside parking, the council is lobbying the Scottish Executive to expand this dramatically to cover non-residential parking, including shopping centres, workplaces, leisure and entertainment venues and health and educational facilities. Ultimately, the aim is that all journeys will be subject to parking controls.

One of the most attractive aspects of the approach is that it potentially forestalls the need for congestion charging. As politicians in Edinburgh learned to their cost in 2005, when a referendum on a £2 road toll was rejected by three to one, road charges do not sit comfortably with the electorate.

However, Ruth Simpson, executive member for land and the environment at Glasgow City Council, said the parking fees were not only more palatable but a more equitable alternative to road pricing, which took no account of how long motorists spent in the city or their ability to pay. She said: "We believe competitively priced car parking is the fairest way to tackle congestion. In addition, if road pricing was introduced it would not lead to a reduction in controlled parking zones.

"It is our firm belief that improved public transport links, coupled with controlled parking measures, will successfully tackle congestion without damaging the wider economy."

But there remain questions over how effective this approach would be and how acceptable it would be to drivers. Neil Greig, assistant director at IAM Motoring Trust, said parking charges were potentially a "blunt instrument" for controlling congestion. "You could introduce parking restrictions on X, Y and Z streets and while it might affect overall traffic flows, it would not necessarily follow that you would have less traffic on X, Y and Z roads," he said.

He also questioned whether targeting entertainment venues would tackle the most pressing problems on our roads. "The congestion caused by these sorts of venues is very short-lived. The big congestion problem in Scotland is in the morning and evening. It's the four or five miles of virtual stationary traffic either side of Charing Cross," he said.

The fees could have an important role to play in the city centre, where managers hoard precious private car parking spaces and are unlikely to give them up, Mr Greig said. But he warned that attempting to introduce charges at out-of-town shopping centres like Braehead would be unfair and encounter a revolt from motorists.

"It would be very unpopular," he said. "Places like Braehead are primarily designed for car access and have very poor public transport access. You would be taxing people for something they have to do. If you're talking about the city centre, most people would have an alternative."

The opposite approach is taken by Stuart Hay of Friends of the Earth Scotland, who welcomed the use of parking charges. He said: "It obviously does influence people's patterns of travel, especially into the city centre. But one problem with the policy is that it isn't going to work unless you can get powers to tackle out of town developments, which are the big generators of traffic. Otherwise you are going to be penalising the town centre."

But, as with Mr Greig, he does not believe parking charges will completely substitute for some form of congestion charging. "The advantage of a congestion charge is that it's actually charging for the vehicle while it's in use. It's dealing with the short journeys and is more sophisticated than a blanket parking charge," said Mr Hay.

"A congestion charge is probably better, but we would support anything that means motorists pay the full environmental cost of the journey. Ultimately that's what it's about."


I've tried park-and-ride but you can't find a space'
VALERIE McLean is exactly the kind of commuter that Glasgow City Council hopes can be persuaded to ditch her car in favour of public transport.

Every day, she drops off her six-year-old son at school at 8.30am. Then she drives the back roads from her home in Bearsden to Mackenzie Partnership, a firm of quantity surveyors on the western side of the city centre, where she works as a PA to the managing director.

But the introduction of parking charges two years ago have so far failed to deter her.

"I just park a few streets further up where there isn't a charge," the 47-year-old admits.

Not that the fees - £1.60 for three hours - haven't had an effect. For those who choose to pay, finding a space in the morning is now much easier. And clients can attend meetings at the firm on time, without enduring the nightmare of chasing after non-existent parking spaces.

But although Ms McLean could get a train to her work, she says she is unlikely to until better services are put in place - principally better park-and-ride facilities at the railway stations near her home. "I've tried parking at Bearsden and Westerton train stations but you need to get there before 8am to get a space," she said.

"Getting home on the train is also difficult because I have to collect my son, so it doesn't quite fit with my travel plans."