Deadline extended for residents to have their say on parking options

10 Mar 2022

The deadline has been extended for residents in Bury St Edmunds’ 12 parking zones to have their say on options designed to improve the permit scheme and the availability of parking spaces.

The survey, launched at the end of January, was due to close tomorrow (11 March) but has now been extended to Friday 22 April, so that more residents can have their say.

Many of the town’s existing parking schemes are heavily oversubscribed and West Suffolk Council is unable to refuse genuine permit applications. Part of the reason for this oversubscription is that many of the homes in Bury St Edmunds town centre were built before the invention of the motor vehicle and others from when car ownership was much lower than it is now. The Council already warns people buying a permit, that it cannot guarantee them a parking space. Alongside this West Suffolk carries out stringent checks to ensure permits and vouchers are not bought by anyone who isn’t a resident.

Since April 2020, the Council has also been responsible for Civil Parking Enforcement, which in effect means residents who had previously not been able to find a space in their parking zone but who previously got away with parking illegally instead, are now less likely to be able to do so.

West Suffolk Council appointed 2020 Consultancy to look independently at the issues around the existing Resident Parking Zones (RPZs) in Bury St Edmunds. 2020 then carried out an initial questionnaire with residents during 2021. From the results of that questionnaire, it has drawn up a series of options and residents are now being asked for their views on these before West Suffolk Council decides what to do next.

The options put forward for consultation are:

• Allowing permit holders to use West Suffolk car parks overnight (between 6pm and 8am) at no extra charge.
• Extending the operating times of all permit schemes from 8am to 8pm (these currently vary with some operating from 10am to 4pm and some 8am to 6pm) and bring in more evening enforcement.
• Integrating permit zones where one is heavily subscribed and another less so.
• Asking Suffolk County Council to review yellow lining with a view to enabling more parking bays.
• Adding car registration details on permits to counter unauthorised use.
• Reviewing the issuing of trade permits in zones (charging or limiting the number issued).
• Limiting the number of second permits a household is allowed to one.
• Limiting the entitlement to visitor vouchers to a level consistent across each of the town’s RPZs.
• Making Blue Badge holders liable to pay for their resident permits.
• Ceasing free permits to residents of pensionable age who do not own a car – but allowing them to buy visitor vouchers instead.

A Council spokesperson said: “We would urge all residents living in the residential parking zones to have a look at the proposals and have their say at https://smartsurvey.co.uk/s/buryRPSreview ”

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