What is residents’ parking?
Residents’ parking schemes are designed to improve the availability of on-street parking spaces for local residents, especially where they are having difficulties parking near their home. Schemes are intended to deter non-residents such as commuters and shoppers from parking on residential streets.
Residents need to purchase and display a permit to allow them to park unrestricted in on-street parking bays within a designated parking zone.
How does the residents’ parking scheme work?
Limited waiting parking bays are marked out on the street. The time limit, time of day and days of the week vary depending on local needs and circumstances.
As an example, a typical limited waiting restriction would operate from Monday to Saturday, from 8am to 6pm, with parking allowed for 1 hour and no return within 1 hour.
The limited waiting parking bays allow non-permit holders to park on the street for a limited time only. Permit holders (residents) can park without a time limit.
Depending on the individual road layouts, we will also consider introducing double yellow lines to close off any areas where vehicles may attempt to park to avoid the residents’ parking restriction.
Signs and road markings will show the areas where the restrictions apply.
Permits
If your street is included in a residents’ parking scheme and you do not have off-street parking, you will need to purchase a permit to allow you to park in the defined parking areas without time limits.
Permits are limited to a single permit per household. Second permits may be available depending on parking spaces and how many first permits are issued.
Residents can buy day-visitor permits for planned visitors who need to park for longer than the restrictions allow.
The permit is issued for use by the resident’s household and is not transferable. The applicant for the resident parking permit must live at an address within the scheme boundary. To confirm that the applicant lives at the address, we will check the details provided against the full electoral register. We may ask for further evidence if the name or address provided does not match the information we hold.
When a residents’ parking scheme is implemented, we will provide further details to residents in the area on how to purchase the permits.
Permit prices
Permits cost £90 a year for the first permit, £126 for a second permit (subject to demand). These prices are for 2024/25 - we review the cost of permits annually.
The money from the sale of permits contributes to implementing and managing the scheme.
What is the process to introduce a residents' parking scheme?
We can only consider introducing a residents’ parking scheme if we have evidence that the majority of residents support it.
- If you want to request a scheme in your area, you should provide evidence that local residents support this. You can contact us at traffic@conwy.gov.uk or write to us at Traffic Section, Conwy County Borough Council, PO Box 1, Conwy, LL30 9GN.
- We will then consult with affected households by contacting them individually with a questionnaire. We need at least 40% of households to respond to our proposals and 75% of those must be in favour of introducing a residents’ parking scheme. The consultation will only be open to residents on the affected street or business premises only accessible from that street.
- If the proposal for a residents’ parking scheme is supported by the majority of residents, we will need a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) to introduce the waiting restrictions and parking permits. Find out more about the Traffic Regulation Order process.
- The Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) process requires a consultation which is open to all members of the public and may result in objections by non-residents.
The Council reserves the right to not proceed with a residential parking scheme if the demand for parking by residents far exceeds the available parking spaces, which would make the scheme unfeasible.
What are the limitations of a residents' parking scheme?
A residents’ parking scheme:
- Does not guarantee the permit holder a parking space outside their property or within the residents’ parking scheme zone.
- Does not always create more parking spaces. In some situations, the number of parking spaces may be reduced, because of the standard size of parking bays.
- Does not allow permit holders to transfer their permits to other vehicles or households, or use the permit in other residents’ parking scheme zones.
Permit holders:
- Must display a valid permit on the front windscreen of the vehicle, making sure that all the information is visible from the outside. It is an offence not to display your permit and you may be liable for a Penalty Charge Notice.
- Must park within the designated parking bays. If you do not, you may be issued with a Penalty Charge Notice.
Annual Parking Permits