Residential parking permit charges paused

More residential parking schemes were due to come into effect in April

A council has halted its policy to implement resident parking permit charges.

It would have seen affected residents in Middlesbrough pay £25 for an initial permit and £40 for any additional ones, as a way of helping to cover the £360,000 annual cost of operating resident parking schemes.

Labour's Peter Gavigan said the council was able to pause the plan, which was set to come into effect from April, because of the authority's "impressive" financial turnaround.

Gavigan confirmed the change of policy at a full council meeting on Wednesday, where he also stated his intention to recommend the charges be "fully removed".

There are currently 12 resident parking zones across Middlesbrough and the new proposals were originally passed as part of the 2024/25 budget setting process.

Resident Rachel Foster said the charges would "severely" affect the wellbeing and financial position of residents.

Council's 'stronger position'

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Gavigan told the meeting that as a result of the council's financial turnaround it was "now in a stronger position to look again at some of the difficult decisions".

"One of those is the introduction of charges for resident parking permits," he said.

"I will bring a report forward to the executive in the near future, with the recommendation that they are fully removed."

The council outlined the resident parking zones were currently in operation largely focused on areas close to the town centre, Teesside University and James Cook Hospital.

A digital permit system, Easipermit, was also in development and would go ahead as planned to modernise the service and reduce costs through a more efficient application and enforcement process, the council explained.