Paper parking permits for resident zones are being phased out from November as the service goes digital.
Residents renewing permits which begin on or after Monday 3 November will no longer receive a paper copy to display in their cars.
Instead, once renewed, the car will be registered as having a valid permit which can be checked digitally by the council’s on-street enforcement teams.
They work in a similar way to car tax, which has not been printed and displayed for many years.
The process for renewing permits remains the same and residents will still be contacted around six weeks before their current permit is due to expire to remind them it’s time to renew.
They’ll now also receive a text message a week before permits are due for renewal.
Residents who are unable to renew online will still be able to renew using non-digital routes but will also have a digital permit and won’t need to display anything in their vehicle.
These residents will continue to receive a reminder letter explaining how their permit works, the start and end dates, and what will happen when they need to renew in the future.
The switch will apply only when residents are due to renew their permits or change their vehicle, and any valid paper permits should still be displayed until their expiry date.
Councillor Trevor Muten, cabinet member for transport, said: “This is good news for our residents who’ll no longer have to wait for permits to arrive in the post or stick them to their windscreens.
“Similar to vehicle tax, our digital permits will also reduce printing and distribution costs, so are better for the environment and our carbon footprint.
“Once in place, we’ll then be looking to roll out digital permits for trades and visitors.
“The switch to digital permits is part of our plan to make parking simpler and fairer for everyone.
“As a council, it’s important we continuously look for new and innovative ways to make parking serve our residents and be easier and more efficient.”
Looking forward to the inevitable moans from people who don’t like change.
And the hysterical headline from the Local Democracy Reporter in 6 months time as the whole thing gets “SLAMMED” because someone couldn’t fill in a form properly.
Wow, let’s hope no one you know ever suffers from an illness or problems which makes digital exclusion a very real problem for them. There are a whole load of reasons why councils need to have good processes in place for people who are unable to navigate forms and online systems, and so often the processes they put in place are not adequate.
Before you assume, I’m not opposed to the idea of moving systems online at all – and who knows – maybe the council will do better than it has done before about processes to combat digital exclusion and there won’t be issues. Either way though, your lack of compassion and understanding on the issue of digital exclusion is just great though PalmeiraSeagull.
What an unsympathetic dullard you are.
“Residents who are unable to renew online will still be able to renew using non-digital routes” – does this mean visiting the contact points in libraries? The one at Hove Library doesn’t have the equipment to pay by card, so can only accept payment by cheque or postal order. I can’t even remember the last time I owned a cheque book!
Let’s hope not as the council are proposing closing 3 libraries and reducing opening hours at Hove and Jubilee. Wouldn’t surprise me if that is what they plan though given recent performance on many issues!
So, encourage Hove Library to buy a card reader? Simple solution!
A BHCC IT system ….
What could possibly go wrong?
Have a break, get a Kitcat….
Seems like an obvious and welcome money saving move to me.
Sounds like when renewing a permit you just pay online as we do now, but there’s no wait for some paper permit to arrive, and no need to display one.
The only downside will be for the traffic wardens – now having to spend all day looking at their data-base-connected phones.
Will the cost of permits be reduced if going digital means monetary savings?
When can the council start laying off the ticket inspectors?
If it goes digital will we eventually get strret cameras to read our number plates and permit status? The end of the ticket warden?
One question arises: How will members of the public be able to check whether a car has a permit ? And report them if they don’t. Will there be an accessible data base?
Good question. I suspect the public will not be able to.
My name is Michael Caine. And I am a nosey neighbour.
Lets hope OAP bus passes also goes digital and onto our smart phones, or at least have the choice. It’s such an inconvenience having to carry it around when I don’t own have a wallet or carry cards around with me.
How is it not inconvenient to have to carry a heavy phone around all the time, download an app for every function in your life and hope you have signal, functionality and charge in all spaces in order to live ? And have endless adverts pop up telling you what to do or buy next after monitoring your activities ?
I’d flip that argument back at you. How is it not inconvenient to have to carry a phantasmagoria of cards and IDs around all the time, getting a new one for every function in your life?
And unfortunately, we are exposed to adverts all the time, we’ve just become numb to most of them. As for monitoring, well…that isn’t significantly affected by your IDs, it’s everything else. Social Media being the largest data broker of information.
Isn’t it unlawful to charge for goods which are not received? More digital discrimination against residents from a pretend-inclusive council.
Will the visitors permits still be valid. I have quite a few left for visiting family.
As I understand it, guest parking permits are not affected by this change.
If they make visitor permits digital it will lead to a huge loss of revenue for the council. It will be a compile faff to use these. It is also hugely discriminatory as many elderly people need these for visiting friends and families and tradesman and mucking around online is just too complicated. Is it just me but every time the transport committee touches a problem they seem to make it worst.