Ipswich Borough Council administers the Ipswich Residents Parking Scheme on behalf of Suffolk County Council who are the traffic authority. 

The Borough Council has the power, subject to County Council approval, to create new Residents Parking Zones (RPZs) in Ipswich and to make amendments to RPZs such as creating new parking bays, altering or removing existing parking bays or changing the times and operation of the bays.

The Borough Council also issues the permits and sets the fees for the scheme.  The scheme is operated on a self-funding basis with the aim that income from the sale of permits meets the cost of operating the scheme, most of which are for providing a dedicated level of parking enforcement of each RPZ in Ipswich.

Requests for new RPZs or expansion of existing zones

For requests to create a new RPZ or to extend an existing RPZ into a street where it does not currently apply, the minimum criteria that must be met are that:

• That the proposal is financially viable. There must be sufficient income generated from the sale of permits to meet the costs of running the scheme on the streets included in the zone. Proposals will only be considered to meet this criteria if the majority of properties on the streets included have little or no off-street parking and there is a problem with a lack of supply of on-street parking compared to the demand.
• That the proposal is operationally viable. The Council will not create a new RPZ for just one or two individual streets. New proposals must cover an area, except for the extension of an existing RPZ.
• That the proposal has the support of at least 50% of the households on the street that it would apply to - the Council will not create a new RPZ for any location where there is not a majority support of the residents that would be affected. Residents seeking approval to proposals to create or extend an RPZ are advised to seek the support of their neighbours, such as by petition, before making a request. This criteria would also apply in respect of any request to change the times of operation of the bays within an existing RPZ.

The creation of new residents parking bays are unlikely to be approved on busy main roads where parking is already prohibited owing to the impact that allowing parking would have on traffic flow. 

Requests for amendments to existing residents parking bays

The Council will consider requests to make amendments to existing residents parking bays or to create new residents parking bays in existing residents parking zones but this will be subject to the Council, and the County Council, being satisfied that any changes are acceptable on road safety and traffic management grounds. 

If you wish to make a request in respect of residents parking zones in Ipswich, please use the contact button below:

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