Residents across Bath and North East Somerset are being reminded about changes to on-street parking permits and new parking charges which come into effect on Thursday, 6th January.
The number of Pay & Display machines across the district is also being reduced as more people switch to paying for their parking digitally.
The on-street permits and parking changes follow earlier consultation, and aim to improve air quality and reduce the risks posed by air pollution while also meeting the council’s wider transport policy aims.
From 6th January, the cost of on-street residents’ parking permits will be based on a vehicle’s emissions.
Vehicles are placed in a charging band according to their recorded CO2 emissions with the DVLA, or engine size where CO2 information is missing.
The base price of a residents’ parking permit remains at £100 a year, with a second permit costing £160 where the most polluting vehicle on the permit emits less than 131g/km of CO2.
Charges for higher polluting vehicles increase by five per cent for each subsequent emissions band with diesel vehicles subject to an additional 25 per cent surcharge to help reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions.
Residents can check DVLA records to confirm their emissions, or engine capacity, online at https://www.gov.uk/get-vehicle-information-from-dvla.
As well as moving to an emissions-based residents’ parking permit scheme, other changes include:
- Moving long-stay visitor parking to off-street car parks and the introduction of digitised hotel, guest house and holiday let permits.
- The introduction of digitised medical permits to counter misuse and an increase to bring the charge in-line with existing residents’ permits.
- An increase in trade permit charges.
- The introduction of half-day paper visitor permits to support vulnerable residents unable to access the financial savings offered by digital permits.
- An increase in on-street parking charges of 10p per hour including charging on Sundays.
- All residents parking zones are now also operational on Sundays.
Councillor Manda Rigby, cabinet member for Transport, said: “These changes to on-street parking are a really important part of our wider plans to achieve better air quality and encourage people to switch to low emission vehicles.
“It’s the first time in eight years that we have increased our permit charges, the new system makes charging fairer and rebalances parking provision in favour of residents.”
The local authority says revenue from the permit scheme is used to pay for running costs, and any surplus will be used to support the development of sustainable transport schemes across Bath and North East Somerset.
With more people switching to paying for their parking digitally with MiPermit, the council is reducing the number of Pay & Display machines available.
From 6th January, all card payment terminals will be taken out of service, but a proportion of machines that accept cash payments will be retained.
The MiPermit system now accounts for 57% of all transactions and 70% of all Pay & Display income.
