Government launches residential parking scheme in town centre

The Gibraltar Government yesterday outlined plans to tackle the parking challenges in the town centre area with the launch of a new residential parking scheme, known as Zone 2.

The residential parking scheme (RPS) forms part of the Sustainable, Traffic, Transport and Parking Plan and follows the launch of Zone 1, tackling the Alameda Estate area, in July 2017.

Residents must apply for a permit to park in the designated areas. The first permit for a household costs £60 per year and any subsequent permits doubles in price. Therefore, the second permit would be £120 a year and an third would be £240.

The Minister for Traffic, Paul Balban, said that the new scheme would mean that at least 75% of residents within this area will have access to a parking space but there is no guaranteed parking.

“There are about 2,500 households and over 500 spaces on the streets, we are talking about 20% availability which is a pretty low number to start off with. However, the area has a lot of parking facilities. You have the rentals at Mid-Town, Theatre Royal, Engineers Lane etc. There are people who live within the RPS who have rented and if you couple that all up it is about 75% availability,” said Mr Balban.

“If everyone who has a garage or space be it private or rented were to use it, this scheme has a good chance of working.”
“If people decide to leave their private parking space empty and to get a permit so they can park as close to home as possible then there would be a problem,” he added.

Eligible applicants will be charged at the ‘second permit per household’ rate for the first permit, if someone in the household benefits from an owned or rented parking space or garage.

Applicants aged 60 or over can buy the ‘first’ permit at a 50% discount provided they do not already own or rent a parking space. The discount is only applicable to the ‘First’ permit per household.

Mr Balban is hoping that the cost of the permits will act as an incentive for people not to have cars.

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