Parking in a residential parking permit area

Parking in a residential parking permit area
Resident parking
MiPermit >
Resident permit schemes help you to park in the roads near to where you live if you have limited or no off-street parking. This particularly helps in areas that have a lot of commuter parking.
Chelmsford City Council manage the resident parking scheme for the South Essex Parking Partnership (SEPP), which also includes:
Basildon
Brentwood
Castle Point
Maldon
Rochford
The scheme covers several different parking zones. You can buy a number of different permits and tickets to allow you and your visitors to park. However, we do not normally include new developments or converted properties, and the scheme does not specifically allocate a parking place outside your own property.
If you are a resident of a road or a section of road included in the scheme, you can check to see if your property is part of it. You can find this in the
Consolidation Order 2019 and any subsequent amendments
for your area.
Not all properties in the
list of roads
may be eligible and not all roads in the list will have permit parking areas.
You will not be eligible if your property was built after:
1 April 2009 in the Chelmsford area
2 October 2014 in the Rochford area
1 November 2019 in the Basildon, Brentwood, Castle Point and Maldon areas
We reserve the right to issue a permit if we believe there is enough parking for your vehicle, but this is at our discretion.
You must abide by the
terms and conditions of the resident permit scheme
MiPermit >
You need to register on MiPermit before you can buy a permit or tickets.
To register on MiPermit, you will need your:
Council Tax account number
house number
postcode
You only need to register an account the first time you buy a resident permit or visitor tickets.
If other people in the household want to buy permit or tickets, they can either:
be added by the main account holder as additional members
register for their own account
Registering an account will verify that you are the resident of the property and determine whether the property is in the scheme.
You can also:
check if your road is in a permit zone
find out the
cost of a permit
Getting a Council Tax account number
If you are unable to find your Council Tax account number, you can ask your council to send a copy bill to your normal billing address.
If you live in Chelmsford, you can view how to find your
Chelmsford Council Tax account number
Councils will not give out your Council Tax account number over the phone or by email for security purposes.
If you have recently moved and don't yet have your Council Tax account number, we can set up your MiPermit account for you. You will need to contact us and provide proof of residency, such as your tenancy agreement or a utility bill from the last three months.
You can buy a maximum of:
two permits per property in the Chelmsford and Rochford areas
three permits per property in the Basildon area
four permits per property in the Castle Point area
In the Maldon area, the allocation of permits varies and depends on the location, so you should contact us for further information.
In the Brentwood area, you can buy a maximum of two permits per property. This is subject to any off-street parking spaces you may have, such as a driveway or garage. If you have two or more off-street parking spaces, you can't buy any resident permits. If your area is at capacity, you will only be able to buy visitor tickets.
You can also
find out if you are in a permit zone
and find further information on our
cost of a permit
page and in the
terms and conditions
Digital permits and tickets
A digital permit or ticket means you don’t need to display a paper permit or visitor scratch cards in your windscreen.
When activating a digital permit, you will need to enter the vehicle registration number and details of the stay for a visitor. Our Civil Enforcement Officers can identify the digital permit or ticket from the vehicle registration number.
You do not need to display anything in your vehicle.
Paper permits and tickets
You cannot buy paper permits or tickets online, and not all permits are available in paper form.
If you need paper permits or tickets, you will need to contact us at least five working days in advance.
Activating a visitor ticket by SMS (text message)
MiPermit >
To activate a visitor ticket by SMS (text message), you need to text the number 61600 with:
the word VISITOR
the vehicle registration number (without spaces)
the length of time the vehicle will be visiting (the allocated time on visitor tickets varies for each area)
For example: VISITOR T123EST 2hours
Activating a visitor ticket when not at the property
You can activate a ticket by:
adding the mobile number of any regular visitors to your account, who can then activate visitor tickets on your behalf
contacting us and giving permission to a particular person or company to activate visitor tickets on your behalf. You will need to agree a random verbal password (different to your MiPermit account details) with your nominated visitor
MiPermit >
Renewing a permit
You can find your permit’s expiry date on your
MiPermit account
. MiPermit will email you when your permit is due for renewal two weeks, then one week, before your current permit expires. You should check your mailbox's junk mail folder if you think you have not received this email.
You can renew your permit using your MiPermit account or by contacting us. You must contact us if you have a free permit, as you will not be able to renew this type of permit yourself.
If you did not give an email address when you registered, we will send you a renewal letter by post. It is your responsibility to make sure your permit is current.
Cancelling a permit
You can cancel your resident permit at any time by
contacting us
. We do not offer refunds for all areas or all permits, as stated in our
terms and conditions
Moving into a property with residential parking
If you don’t yet have your Council Tax account number, we can open your MiPermit account in advance and issue you with visitor tickets. For us to do this, you should send us proof of your moving in date, such as your completion letter or tenancy agreement.
On moving in day, if the removal van is a liveried vehicle with an official removal logo, you do not need to do anything. Our enforcement officers will see that they are loading and unloading and will not issue a fine.
If the vehicle is not liveried, you will need to buy visitor tickets or a
dispensation permit
Moving from one residential parking zone to another
If you move to another property within a resident permit zone, you should contact us. We can then transfer the details of your permit(s) over to your new address.
Moving out of a residential parking zone
If you move to a property which is not included in a resident permit zone, you must contact us to cancel your permit(s).
Changing a vehicle
To change the vehicle details on your permit, you must contact us. It is in your own interest as a resident to ensure that non-residents do not obtain permits.
Courtesy vehicles
If you have to use a courtesy vehicle, you can:
contact us and ask to change the registration details on your resident permit (you must also contact us to re-instate your original vehicle)
buy and activate a visitor ticket using the online MiPermit system
Having work done to a property
If you are having work done to your property, you will need to supply all vehicles parked with visitor tickets.
Alternatively, you can contact us to
buy dispensation permits
for these vehicles to park in a restricted area.
Hiring a skip or erecting scaffolding
We do not issue permits or tickets to park a skip in a road or erect scaffolding.
The company you have hired need to apply for a
skip or scaffolding licence
with Essex County Council’s Highways Department.
If your vehicle is parked in the road due to the skip being on your drive, you will need a permit or ticket.
Landlords and owners
If you are the landlord or owner of properties within a
permit zone
, you can buy visitor tickets for when you visit.
As the scheme is in place to protect the residents, we will monitor the amount of visitor tickets you buy.
Businesses
If you are a business and your employees need a permit to park, you may be eligible for business or worker permits. You can
enquire about business or worker permits online (certain criteria apply).
Health visitors (carers)
If you have regular visits by a carer, doctor or nurse and they need a permit to park, you can
request a carer permit online
Non-residents
You cannot buy resident permits for non-residents. From time to time, we will ask for evidence to support the permits you have purchased.
Restrictions in permit zones vary from road to road, so it is best to check the signs in the individual road. You can also
view the restrictions on a map
All resident parking restrictions still apply over bank holidays, unless specifically stated on the signs in the road.
The cost of permits and tickets depends of which of the six SEPP areas you live in.
You can view the
cost of a permit or ticket
You can search our
list of roads
to see if you live in a residents parking area.