The convenience revolution
Parcel lockers have rapidly become an integral part of modern e-commerce logistics, offering customers 24/7 convenience and giving carriers a way to cut delivery costs by reducing failed deliveries and unnecessary vehicle trips. With rising parcel volumes, lockers can also ease traffic congestion and support more sustainable last-mile operations.
With Millennials and Gen Z increasingly expecting seamless convenience — and a growing number of Gen X consumers too — it is worth asking whether the traditional “to-door” delivery model, with its persistent problem of missed or botched first-time deliveries, is already beginning to look outdated.
The backlash begins
Across Europe and the UK, however, the largely unregulated spread of parcel lockers is beginning to generate pushback. Without planning controls, lockers can quickly become a nuisance: cluttering pavements, obstructing pedestrians, generating noise and traffic pressures, and degrading historic or visually sensitive streetscapes.
A recent case in Denholm, in the Scottish Borders, illustrates the tension. In early 2026, the local council ordered the removal of a 24-hour parcel locker installed by InPost in the village’s conservation area, rejecting a retrospective planning application and describing the installation as “conspicuous and incongruous” within the traditional streetscape.
The episode reflects a broader issue: operators frequently install lockers first and seek planning approval later — a strategy that is increasingly colliding with local planning authorities.
Europe experiments with regulation
Elsewhere in Europe, cities are beginning to test different ways of managing the rapid growth of locker networks.
Italian authorities are tightening rules. Bergamo’s historic centre now bans external on‑street lockers and requires existing units to be hidden from view, monitored by CCTV, display responsible‑person contact details, and undergo daily inspections.
Prague has taken a different approach, introducing binding siting rules for lockers placed on public land to prevent dense “locker clusters” that obstruct pedestrian movement. The policy favours lockers integrated into buildings or indoor locations rather than freestanding units on pavements.
Meanwhile, several Dutch cities — including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht — are working with parcel operators to move future locker expansion indoors, such as in supermarkets, libraries and sports centres, while gradually removing freestanding units from historic areas.
Different approaches, but the same underlying message: the free-for-all phase may be coming to an end.
The UK’s planning dilemma
In the UK, where parcel locker networks are expanding rapidly and retrospective planning refusals are becoming more common, these cases point to a growing set of tensions. Local authorities are increasingly dealing with complaints about visually intrusive installations, pavement obstruction, traffic and parking pressures, noise, security concerns and the unresolved question of who will ultimately be responsible for maintaining or even removing these units over time.
Should the current market-led rush to install lockers simply be allowed to run its course, inevitably producing a handful of successful sites with constant activity alongside many others that quietly fail?
It is not difficult to imagine the longer-term outcome: rows of underused or abandoned lockers, perhaps even vandalised, with operators unwilling or unable to fund their removal.
Time for a Sheriff?
Parcel lockers clearly serve a valuable function in modern logistics. But infrastructure that spreads rapidly through public space rarely remains completely unregulated for long.
The question facing policymakers is not whether lockers should exist — they almost certainly will — but whether their rollout should continue unchecked.
At some point, even the most enthusiastic frontier economy needs a sheriff.
AR Advice 
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