Changes to visitor parking permits in Bristol put on hold after public backlash
A controversial plan to tighten the rules on visitor parking permits in Bristol has been paused
New fees for visitor parking permits in Bristol plan paused after public backlash
A controversial plan to tighten the rules on visitor parking permits in Bristol has been paused after a public backlash. Bristol City Council consulted the public on changing how people could visit areas covered by resident parking zones, and received a lot of objections.
People living within a zone, with a permit for their own vehicle, can book some free permits for visitors, and more if they pay, as well as one-off visitors for unexpected guests. The plan would have halved the number of available visitor permits, and make people pay for all of them, too.
Residents can get between 100 and 140 permits a year, but this would have been reduced to 50 and 70, and ended all free permits. An update was given to the transport policy committee, on Thursday, February 5, which was received with applause from the public gallery in City Hall.
Green Councillor Ed Plowden, chair of the transport policy committee, said: “Since being introduced to the city back in 2014, the residents’ parking schemes have provided real benefits to the communities they serve. Not only do the schemes help residents to park near their homes, they also reduce traffic, improve road safety, and contribute to cleaner air for all.
“As part of the statutory consultation, along with local ward councillors, I have received significant feedback about the proposed changes to the scheme, with concerns raised about the implications of reducing the free allocation of visitor permits and the overall number of visitor permits available.
“As a result, we will be pausing our proposed changes to visitor permits, so we can review the proposals. This will give us time to analyse the responses to the statutory consultation and plan any changes needed to respond to this feedback. This may result in another round of statutory consultation to ensure we continue to support local communities, while encouraging people to use more sustainable forms of transport where they can.”
Resident parking zones were first rolled out over a decade ago, to tackle parking pressure and reduce traffic. In 2024 councillors approved increasing the cost of permits for residents and updating pay and display rates. More areas could soon be covered by parking zones as well.
Towards the end of last year, the council consulted on increasing the cost of visitor permits and limiting the number of available, as well as other changes. Council staff are now reviewing feedback on the proposals, which will be considered during future plans for the scheme.
The other proposals — to make business electric car permits chargeable and to remove the option to claim the free half hour on pay and display machines — are still being considered and a further announcement on this will follow once responses have been analysed. Doubts about visitor permits were also raised by Liberal Democrats.
Questions from the Liberal Democrats revealed that 3,000 people per year bought additional permits beyond the new proposed limit. This means that eight per cent of all households within resident parking zones would be affected by the cap.
Liberal Democrat Cllr Nicholas Coombes said: “I’m glad that the council has listened to the feedback from local residents, and has decided to pause the implementation of this unfair restriction. Many anxious residents have contacted me to explain that they use visitor permits for a variety of reasons, including letting grandparents support childcare, and they are worried that they will exceed the proposed cap.
“I will continue to push for the reversal of this policy so that residents can continue to welcome visitors without worrying about an artificially low limit.”