A six-week consultation on a new parking plan for Cardiff has launched.
Cardiff Council says the proposal – to move towards a new area-based approach to managing parking across the city – would give residents a better chance to park on their street, or on adjoining roads close to their home – while reducing opportunities for commuter parking.
Cllr Dan De’Ath, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning, Climate Change and Transport, said:
“The new parking plan for Cardiff intends to give residents, blue badge holders, cycle and car clubs and local businesses better access to on-street permit parking.
“The online survey is split into five sections covering the five proposed areas, giving the public the opportunity to answer specific questions to the area that they live or work in, or if they prefer, they can answer the entire questionnaire.
“The consultation will run until December 1 2024 so we want as many people as possible to take part in the survey, so we can understand people’s priorities and deliver a scheme that is fit for our capital city.”
Under the new proposed scheme all on-street parking bounded within the areas south of the A48, west of River Rhymney, north of Cardiff Bay and east of the River Ely and the outer wards would be split into four distinct parking management areas with different restrictions in place for each. These are the City Centre, Inner, Cardiff Bay & Outer Parking Management Areas. Each area will be made up of several parking zones.
The council said the proposals would bring Cardiff into line with most major cities in the UK, and subject to the results of the consultation will take several years to implement, as separate Traffic Regulation Orders will be required for each parking zone.
The proposed new Parking Management Areas are as follows:
- City Centre Parking Management Area will cover the city centre including the centre of Cardiff and the Civic Centre. All on-street parking will be managed 24 hours a day, seven days per week all year and no waiting will be allowed at all. Loading will only be permitted during certain hours to ensure businesses can re-stock. No one can apply for a permit in this Parking Management Area. Taxi ranks, loading bays and disabled parking bays will be unaffected.
- The Inner Parking Management Area includes parts of Adamsdown, Butetown, Cathays, Grangetown, and Plasnewydd that are next to the City Centre Area. All on-street parking will be managed from 8am until 10pm and only resident, visitor, community and carer permits can be applied for. Outside of taxi ranks and deliveries, all on-street parking spaces will be managed via restrictions and pay & display between 8am and 10pm.
- Cardiff Bay Parking Management Area includes all Butetown south of Callaghan Square. All on-street parking in the Cardiff Bay Parking Management Area will be managed from 8am until 8pm and only resident, visitor, community and carer permits can be applied for. Outside of taxi ranks and deliveries, all on-street parking spaces will be managed via restrictions and pay & display between 8am and 8pm.
- The Outer Parking Management Area includes Canton, Gabalfa, Penylan and Splott, and the parts of Adamsdown, Cathays, Grangetown and Plasnewydd that are not next to the city centre. All on-street parking will be managed from 8am until 6pm and only resident, visitor, business, carer and school permits can be applied for. Outside of taxi ranks and deliveries all on-street parking spaces will be managed via restrictions and pay & display between 8am and 6pm.
Cllr De’Ath continued:
“Parking across the city has increasingly become an issue for many residents who are finding it harder and harder to park outside or near their own homes due to high numbers of commuter traffic.
“This ability for commuters to come and park in the city for free is leading to air pollution and congestion which our residents are suffering from.
“We’ve always been clear that if we are to clean up the city’s air and tackle the climate emergency then we need to reduce our reliance on the private car and get people to think more about taking public transport.
“We believe that changing the way we enable people to park across the city, making the system easier to understand so motorists know where they can or cannot park, will help to alleviate these problems and will encourage more people to think about using public transport which is better for the environment.
“As we continue to improve cycling and walking routes, the competition for space on Cardiff’s’ road network has increased and as it is impossible to create more on-street parking space due to the physical restraints, so changes need to be made. So, what we are proposing here is a complete overhaul of the on-street parking policy by creating a ‘zonal approach’ within Parking Management Areas so we can better manage and enforce the car parking spaces available so that the system isn’t abused.”
Although having any parking permit doesn’t guarantee a parking space, proposals are being put forward to amend the terms and conditions of the permits to free up more space, for example by charging SUVs more to encourage people to own smaller cars and placing new restrictions on permits for student only properties, and to ensure the system cannot be abused.
The new zonal parking scheme proposes that terms and conditions and types of parking permits currently available will change.
As part of implementation, the council says it will clearly explain how people can apply for the new permits so that there is a seamless transition between the old system and the new. The following permits will be introduced at that time:
Residents living within an existing parking zone would not be eligible to obtain a resident parking permit if their property was either built, or converted, after 1 September 2011.
Residents living within a new (proposed) parking zone would not be eligible to obtain a resident parking permit if their property was either built, or converted, after 1 September 2024.
The permits that would be available under the new scheme are:
- Residential permit: All residents that currently have a permit would need to reapply for a new zonal permit which is specific to the road/area where they live. This will give residents a better chance to park on their street, or on a road close by that is part of their residential zone. All those that want to park a motorbike on-street will also have to apply for a permit under the new system.
- Visitor permit: For visitor parking, each household will only be allowed to apply for 240 days of visitor parking each year. By putting this restriction in place, the system is less open to abuse, ensuring that the allocation of visitor parking is shared between households in a specific residential area.
- Community permit: Community on street permits can be applied for by certain places of worship or disability access groups that are exempt under specific legislation.
- Business permit: Only businesses that have a property in the Outer Parking Management Area can apply for an on-street parking permit, which will only allow a business owner to park vehicles that are needed for the day to day running of the business. So, this is not for commuter or staff parking.
- Carer permit: There are two types of carer permits being proposed for on street parking, one for professional health and one for personal care for those that qualify.
- School permit: Existing schools that are in the Outer Parking Management Area can apply for an on-street permit to park a vehicle that is needed for the operational running of the school. Again, this is not for commuter or staff parking.
The survey is available here.
