This week, vehicle-specific parking permits will go virtual, meaning there will be no need to display it in your car.
This will reduce paper use and costs, and will eventually allow for significant reductions in the waiting time for new permits.
Under the current system, anyone who wants to park in any of the city’s controlled parking zones (CPZ) needs to display a permit. When you move into a CPZ, it can take up to five working days to apply for and receive a new permit in the post. When the new virtual permit system is fully enabled, this will be reduced to just two working days.
With up to 13,000 vehicle-specific permits, which can range from £1 to £1.50 for the cost of paper alone, the new solution will save money and be less resource intensive.
This change also means that people who suspect illegal parking in their street can check online if the vehicle has a valid permit, and report it to the council if it does not.
Councillor Gail Harris, cabinet member with responsibility for customer services said: “This move to virtual permits is just another in a long list of projects we’ve championed to make the switch to digital. These projects range from ordering a repair on council homes to applying for business grants and making local land charge searches.
“We want to make accessing our services as easy as possible and this change is made with that ambition in mind. There are also considerable financial and environmental benefits to going paperless so this new system ticks all sorts of boxes for us.”
Apply for a new permit or check if a car is parked without a valid permit and report it.
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