Parking Statutory Guidance updated to reflect cycle lane camera enforcement
The Department for Transport (DfT) updated its Guidance for local authorities on enforcing parking restrictions on 22 June to reflect new powers given to local authorities to enforce against parking in cycle lanes using a camera and associated recording equipment (‘approved device’).
The update to the guidance follows the amended Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) General (Amendment) Regulations 2020, where the following exception has been added:
‘…where a vehicle is stationary in a mandatory cycle lane and there are waiting and/or loading restrictions in place.’
This is as a new exception to the issuing of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) having to be carried out by a civil enforcement officer and joins the list of other exceptions allowing PCNs to be issued based on evidence from an approved device:
- bus lanes
- bus stop clearways or bus stand clearways
- ‘Keep Clear’ zig-zag areas outside schools
- red routes
- parking or a loading restrictions within a mandatory cycle lane.
The update to the Regulations and Statutory Guidance follows recent announcements from the Government in May that it will spend £250m as part of a £2bn drive to encourage more ‘active travel’ in the form of walking and cycling, including the roll-out of ‘pop-up’ cycle lanes within existing carriageways.
The Statutory Guidance sets out the policy framework for civil parking enforcement by local authorities in England, as regulated by the Traffic Management Act 2004 and accompanying Regulations.
