Civil Parking Enforcement FAQs

Civil parking enforcement (CPE) is the outcome of a process that decriminalises a number of on-street parking offences, enabling them to be enforced as a civil matter by a local authority. This represents a significant change to the current position whereby these offences may only be enforced by the police.

The process being undertaken will see the establishment of a civil enforcement area (CEA) in Huntingdonshire. This is a statutory process that will see the highways authority (Cambridgeshire County Council) make an application to the Department for Transport (DfT) for the CEA. Following a DfT review, the application will be laid before Parliament for approval.

Until the transition to civil parking enforcement takes effect, the enforcement of on-street parking matters remains a function of the police. HDC is not able to support enforcement due to legislative restrictions.

If your query relates to other on-street matters such as maintenance, you will need to contact Cambridgeshire County Council.

Huntingdonshire District Council will undertake on-street parking enforcement for a number of offences and continue to enforce its off-street car parks. More information can be found under the next heading.

The police will still retain enforcement powers for:

• dangerous and obstructive parking

• vehicles parked on pedestrian crossings and zig zag lines

• moving traffic offences, for example speeding and passing through ‘no entry’ zones.

Cambridgeshire County Council will remain the highways authority. This means they will still be responsible for maintenance matters and requests for new on-street parking restrictions/scheme implementations.

Find out more information on improvement schemes including the process of application

Civil parking enforcement consists of over 40 individual on-street offences.

The list below is condensed to ensure the themes of what can be enforced by HDC are captured without itemising each specific case. These on-street offences are:

• breach of waiting and loading/unloading restrictions

• breaches of pay and display restrictions, for example, no payment, expired or overstay beyond the maximum period.

• parking in a permit bay or zone (such as residents or disabled) without a valid permit for the vehicle

• parking on yellow lines in breach of the signposted timed restrictions, for example, no waiting

• returning to a parking place before the ‘no return’ threshold has passed

• parking a vehicle of a class not permitted for the parking place

• parking incorrectly within a marked parking bay/space.

• parking likely to cause obstruction, such as more than 50cm from a kerb, or blocking dropped kerbs

• stopping/waiting in an area marked for other vehicles, for example, intended for police, taxis, bus stop/stand, cycle track/lane

• parking in contravention of signposted special rules, such as no commercial vehicles overnight, no buses

• enforcement of parking on double yellow lines

• parking on white zig-zags at pedestrian crossings.

The delivery of civil parking enforcement in Huntingdonshire requires a significant undertaking of works to enable delivery. Key areas of work include:

• Traffic Regulation Order review

• Sign and line remedials

• Department for Transport application

• Development of an agency agreement.

Traffic Regulation Order review works: This includes mapping of all on-street restrictions district-wide and a review of the quality of the restrictions to identify the currently non-compliant sign and line elements. Mapping will be used for the preparation of CPE Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs).

Sign and line repair works: Using the above review information, we are preparing to undertake a procurement exercise early in 2024 to appoint a contractor for the works.

Department for Transport application: We are working with Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) to compile all the necessary information to submit the application to form the civil enforcement area. The application will be submitted by CCC in 2024.

Development of an agency agreement: This is the agreement between CCC and HDC that details the relationship and delegated responsibility for on-street enforcement to HDC. Work is continuing on the development of this.

As part of the application to the Department for Transport, CCC has been advised that we will likely receive approval to commence civil parking enforcement in spring 2025, due to anticipated Parliamentary delays.

We have a proposal being considered for the use of an initial warning notice period once CPE comes into effect. Once this proposal has been considered, an update to this page will be provided.

During on-site surveys, a high level of non-compliance with parking restrictions was observed. It is strongly advised that you consider if your current parking arrangements are in breach of any restrictions and seek to make alternate arrangements. Find out more information