Letter: As a Resident Parking Permit Holder I Had No Notification of Process Change

Published on: 26 Aug, 2023
Updated on: 26 Aug, 2023

From: N Rockliff

In response to: Deadline for Residents’ Comments on New Parking Permit Scheme This Friday

As a holder of a Guildford resident parking permit, I have received no notification about the above consultation. When and where was this issued and to whom? I would have expected this to have gone to all local residents, especially existing permit holders.

The virtual and online application visitor permit scheme and the bay suspension arrangements already in place are a nightmare. It requires the applicant resident to book in advance and to know the registration number of the visiting vehicle.

For example, when employing builders using a variety of tradespeople coming on variable days in varied vehicles (and their timing/date having to be flexible depending on the progress of the work), it is not feasible, especially if the applicant is not always on the premises.

Even if it can be done “on arrival” it is not feasible if the resident is not actually there at the time.

Suspension of parking bays is now for a minimum of three days at a cost of £75 per bay… whereas many people only need it for a day or max two, for moving etc (the daily cost thereafter is more reasonable).

The call handling centre, in case of problems, is in Northern Scotland, as I found out when trying to tackle both the above issues, and because the online system would not accept my payment for bay suspension. It took two staff 25 minutes to resolve the issue and I still had to pay at a later date!

There is a lot of merit in the scratchcard scheme for visitor permits. Also, the paper resident permits do allow locals to see if people are parking illegally and to ask them to move.