Extending Residents’ Permit Eligibility

Overview

Extending Residents’ Permit Eligibility

We know the RBKC residents’ parking permit is one of the most wonderful benefits of living in this borough and that is why the Council is writing to ask your views on changes that we are considering making to our policy regarding eligibility. The Council takes our precious parking provision very seriously and if we did not think the proposed change was sensible we would not be proposing it.

For background, the number of residents’ parking permits in the borough has been gradually falling: between January 2013 and January 2024, the number (excluding purple badges, which are issued to resident disabled drivers) dropped by 14.5 percent, from 36,652 to 31,329. Car ownership has dropped faster in the borough than elsewhere in London. Between 2014 and 2022, car ownership in the borough dropped by 8.5 per cent.

In that time, the Council has converted some residents’ parking spaces to other uses such as electric vehicle charging points, cycle hangars and dockless bicycles, but permit numbers have fallen much faster than the number of spaces available. As a result, our autumn parking survey found that occupancy of residents’ bays has fallen in almost every part of the borough, even since 2022. 

Currently, parking permits are only issued to residential addresses that are listed on the council tax register as a main home. People living in properties listed as second homes are therefore not eligible for a residents’ parking permit.

Many councils have started imposing additional council tax on second homes and compelling owners to provide details but in RBKC no such requirement is necessary as we do not impose this surcharge. We know from the Census that over 25,000 RBKC residents have second addresses, of which over 10,000 are in the UK. It seems reasonable to assume that some of these residents will wish to register their RBKC address as a second home. Already we have over 7,000 homes that are registered as second homes thereby excluding those people who live in them from the residents’ permit.

The Council believe all residents who pay council tax ought to be able to benefit from the services the Council has to offer and am proposing that residents of second homes in the borough should have the option to buy a permit.

With falling permit applications in recent years, this additional eligibility for some residents should not create undue pressure on existing space.

Proposed Change

a) Remove the restriction that prevents residents of ‘second homes’ from buying a parking permit,

b) Introduce a separate permit type for residents of ‘second homes’, priced the same as other residents’ permits, and

c) Cap the number of these new permits issued to 2,000

Why your views matter

More information may be obtained by contacting trafficorders@rbkc.gov.uk or by phoning Chris Eales on 020 7361 2553 quoting reference “Extending Residents’ Permit Eligibility”.