Parking

The council is responsible for providing and managing parking on roads and streets, and has set it as a priority to be delivered to Islington local residents and businesses.

Controlled Parking Zones

Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs) are seen as the most effective way of managing parking demand and freeing up space such as bus lanes, junctions, loading and disabled bays, emergency or school entrances. CPZs give parking priority to local residents, visitors and businesses and reduce commuter parking and congestion. For more information, see the link 'CPZs' under Related Topics.

Yellow and Red Lines

Rules for parking on street as well as loading and unloading goods apply, but differ depending on the locations.

Yellow lines on the kerbs indicate the existence of restrictions and are accompanied by signs or time plates in the street indicating the restricted times.

In addition, Islington has a small network of red route main roads, which are maintained by Transport for London. Red route restrictions operate in a similar way to yellow lines and loading restrictions.

Useful sources of information

• Loading and unloading rules in Islington for businesses. For further information see the document below.

• How to park safely and legally in Islington. For more information see the document below.

Enforcement

Following the decriminalisation of parking offences under the Road Traffic Act 1991, local authorities in London are empowered to enforce against illegally parked vehicles. They do so by issuing Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) to any vehicles illegally parked, or parked in contravention of parking regulations.

To carry out parking enforcement services in Islington, the council has contracted National Car Parks (NCP). However, the red routes are enforced by Metropolitan Police Traffic Wardens and not by the council.

For more information about what to do when a PCN has been issued, see the document below.

Parking Initiatives for Local Businesses

In addition, the council is taking forward various parking initiatives to address users’ needs, especially targeting businesses and retailers and tackling local problems as they arise.

Businesses can apply for business parking permits valid in Islington CPZs (up to two permits per business – up to three vehicles per permit used in one vehicle at a time). Two different schemes are proposed:

• an annual permit allowing all day parking in any parking business/shared bays, or

• a permit with vouchers allowing limited stay parking in any parking business/shared bays

These schemes have been developed in consultation with many local businesses and retailers, some small in size, but still demonstrating a need for parking arrangements. For more information about business parking permits, see the link under Related Information on the right.

The council has taken forward public/private collaboration by setting up a parking group for “keeping business moving” (this is a sub group of the established Business Regulation Partnerships.This group meets regularly to address common issues such as loading within premises, abuse of parking bays, free parking, PCN hot spots and enforcement. Any local business/retailer interested will be involved and join the group share views and express specific needs to the council.

Larger companies might be interested in addressing their own issues and needs through other larger scale groups/partnerships such as the Freight Quality Partnerships.

These various groups and partnerships will benefit by sharing local concerns together with the council, who can take a lead in coordinating the development of solutions