Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Barking and Dagenham Council eased parking restrictions for residents as they knew how important it was for people to drop off essential items to friends and family.
This was done by introducing 30-minute free parking for all residents and visitors across the borough, so that they were able to look after their loved ones by dropping off food and medicine.
However, lockdown is now beginning to ease and from Monday 15 June, non-essential shops will be opening,which means more cars will be on the road with people trying to park in permit holders’ spaces.
From Monday, residents will only be able to park for five minutes and visitors will need to start using their visitor permits. However, as this is a big change, for the first two weeks parking enforcement officers will only be issuing warnings to people about the change if they stay between five and 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, tickets will continue to be issued.
Then, from Monday 29 June, the council will start enforcing in full again if people stay longer than five minutes.
Councillor Margaret Mullane, Cabinet Member for Enforcement and Community Safety said: “As life starts to get back to normal, more people will be on the road, which means there will be more people from in and outside the borough trying to park in residents’ spaces.
“We have to start enforcing again to make sure residents can park in the spaces they’re paying for, to keep the roads safe and to stop people from outside the borough using our streets as one big car park.
Throughout lockdown, the council has also provided over 1,350 free parking permits for NHS staff, frontline workers and volunteers to allow them to continue the incredible work to keep everyone safe and stop the spread of the virus.
Councillor Mullane added: “I’m really pleased that we will be continuing our free parking permits for NHS staff, frontline workers and volunteers at least until the end of July, when we will review the situation.
“I’d like to thank every single one of them for the fantastic work they’re doing at keeping us all safe.”
If essential workers feel they should have a free permit, and this includes BD CAN volunteers, they can apply online by visiting www.lbbd.gov.uk/parking.