Resident parking
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. 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.
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)
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
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.
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 can request a business or worker permit online.
Health visitors
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.