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Civil Parking Enforcement and Bus Lane Enforcement

Civil Parking Enforcement (CPE) and Bus Lane Enforcement, transfers the responsibilities for on-street parking from the police to the local highway authority, which in this case is Cambridgeshire County Council. This allows on-street offences to be treated as civil matters enforced by local authority civil enforcement officers rather than by the police.

To take up these powers, Cambridgeshire County Council as the Highway Authority is required to make an application to the Secretary of State via the Department for Transport (DfT) to decriminalise parking enforcement.

Currently, CPE powers have been adopted in three districts: Cambridge City, South Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire. The County Council is actively supporting Fenland District Council in undertaking the necessary assessments and preparing the CPE application.

Bus lane enforcement powers have been implemented in Cambridge City, and the County Council has submitted additional applications to extend these powers to South Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire.

Civil Parking Enforcement and Bus Lane Enforcement - Frequently Asked Questions

CPE and Bus Lane Enforcement enables the County and District Councils to better promote safe and sensible parking and allows the police to focus on more serious crimes.

The flexibility and benefits CPE and Bus Lane Enforcement brings will:

  • Increase targeted enforcement of problematic parking
  • Improve traffic flow
  • Encourage correct, sensible and safe parking
  • Improve road safety for all road users
  • Improve access for pedestrians and service and emergency vehicles
  • Encourage active travel
  • Promote the economic growth of market towns
  • Support environmental objectives to reduce congestion and improve air quality through proactively managing parking restrictions

CPE powers have been adopted in, Cambridge City, South Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire, and bus lane enforcement powers in Cambridge City. Our aim is to extend Bus Lane Enforcement to South Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire by the end of 2026, and to implement CPE across Fenland in 2027.

The police will retain powers to enforce:

  • dangerous or obstructive parking
  • vehicles parked on pedestrian crossings and zig zag lines
  • moving vehicle violations, such as speeding and going through ‘no entry’ signs

Most parking violations, however, will become civil offences dealt with by the relevant County and District Council.

CPE and Bus Lane Enforcement will lead to a significant improvement in parking practices across the CPE and Bus Lane Enforcement districts, promoting the benefits of good parking and enforcing where necessary.

It will reduce unsafe parking, make sure emergency vehicles can get through, reduce impact on local businesses by improving turnover of parking spaces and reduce environmental impact by tackling congestion and idling engines.

Teams will be focused on areas where illegal parking has the most impact on road safety and congestion, allocating resources, as available to ensure traffic management and respect for the existing restrictions.

The adoption of CPE powers means that Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) can enforce restrictions, such as single or double yellow lines, dropped kerbs with tactile pavements. Dropped kerbs outside residents’ properties will only be made by request.

Some traffic regulations will continue to be enforced by the Police such as those causing an obstruction, dangerous parking, footway parking where there are no restrictions in place, vehicles parked on pedestrian crossings and zig-zag lines.

There are two levels of Penalty Charge:

  • £70 for the more serious offences, such as parking on yellow lines
  • £50 for less serious offences, such as overstaying in a limited waiting bay

Both charges are reduced by 50% if paid within 14 days.

Read our Parking tickets and appeals page for more information.