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  5. Apply for a Visitor Parking Permit

Apply for a Visitor Parking Permit

Across Bath & North East Somerset, there are a number of resident parking schemes, with parking restrictions in place. Most residents will be eligible for a Residents Parking Permit, to cover their own parking needs. Residents can also buy Visitor Parking Permits, and these allow the holder to use a Residents Permit-holder or dual use Pay & Display parking bay for a set period of time.

Use this page to find out about Visitor Parking Permits, the cost and duration of available permits, how to apply, and how to use a permit.

Check your eligibility

Select a topic below to read about who can apply and the types and duration of permits available.

Who can apply

Any resident living within a controlled parking zone can apply for Visitor Parking Permits, whether or not you have your own vehicle, or a Residents Parking Permit. You, and not your visitor, must make the application, and activate the permit, if digital (see instructions below). Visitor Parking Permits allow permit-holder parking in the zone for any visitor to a resident in the zone.

View our page on Residents Parking Permits, if you're unsure whether you wish to buy, or are eligible for one.

Permit entitlement

Visitor permits are available to all residents of Bath, Keynsham and Saltford residents' parking zones, whether or not they own a vehicle themselves. 

In most residents' parking zones, you can buy up to 1000 hours' worth of permits per year, per residential property. The exceptions are as follows:

  • Bath's Central Zone, where only 100 hours per year are available per property, due to very high demand
  • Peasedown St John, where Visitor Parking Permits are not available, due to lack of on-street space

Entitlement is per property, not per household. Where there is more than one household in a property, you may need to negotiate with those you live with, to ensure you share your entitlement fairly.

Types of permit

  • Digital permits

    You can buy these for all zones where Visitor Parking Permits are available. They come in batches of 100 hours' parking.

  • Paper permits

    You can buy paper permits for any residents parking zone which is currently in place, except for Bath's Central Zone, or any zone created from 2019 onwards, which includes Zones 17 or upwards. These permits are available in batches of 10 x 1-day, or 20 x half-day parking, with each batch counting as 100 hours of parking. They are valid for one year, from the date of purchase.

Check the cost

Visitor Parking Permits cost £10 per 100 hours of parking. This could consist of any of the following:

  • 100 digital hours
  • 10 x 1-day paper permits
  • 20 x half-day paper permits

Before you apply

You will need a valid Council Tax reference number, which proves you are a resident of the zone, to apply Visitor Parking Permits. If you are not liable for Council Tax at your property, please contact us by email at parking@bathnes.gov.uk or call us on 01225 477133, to find another way to prove your residence.

How to apply

You can buy Digital permits through our online permit management service, MiPermit

Apply online now

You can buy paper permits for eligible zones in any of the following ways:

If paper permits are not normally available for your zone, but you have a good reason for preferring these, please contact us, and we will do our best to help.

How to use the permit

You will need to activate your Visitor Parking Permit in order for it to be valid. Activating the permit will be different, depending on the type of permit you have bought:

Digital permits

You can allocate, or cancel, your digital parking hours, in one-hour units, via MiPermit on your smartphone (available on Android or Apple iOS). Enter your visitor's vehicle registration, then select a duration to allocate the permit. You can also do this by text, website or phone.

View MiPermit Bath & North East Somerset Cashless Parking and Digital Permits for step by step instructions

You can book visitor parking in advance, or activate it immediately when your visitor arrives. If your visitor stays beyond the time you have allocated, it is your responsibility to extend the stay. 

Paper permits

Scratch off the date and time of use (where appropriate) and fill in your visitor's vehicle registration number. Ask them to display the paper permit on the dashboard of their vehicle, immediately upon arrival.

For full details about how to purchase and use Visitor Parking Permits, see our parking permit Terms and Conditions.

If a visitor parks incorrectly, or for longer than the permit allows, and gets a parking fine, they (not the Residents Parking Permit holder) are responsible for paying or appealing against this, following the instructions on the Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).

Single yellow lines

Most single yellow lines are not individually signed in Bath as this is a national restriction with no requirement to display signs in individual streets.

Where not explicitly signed, the operational hours of a single yellow line will be the same as the Zone the location falls within. Zones operate 7 days a week but their operational hours can differ by zone. The operational hours are advertised by signage at the vehicular access entry and exit points to each zone.

Find out more about the operational hours for each Resident Parking Zone in our On-Street Parking Permit Terms and Conditions.