Enfield Free 30-Minute Parking: Objections Close 28 October

Enfield Council has published the legal orders for its free 30-minute parking scheme. Anyone who wants to object, or support it, has until Wednesday 28 October.

The formal notice, dated 7 October, sits on the council’s traffic orders page alongside the 58-page draft orders and the council’s statement of reasons. (Enfield Council, notice TMO 1627 (PDF))

The documents answer the question the council’s Cabinet report in September left open: how drivers would actually get the free half hour, and what happens if they stay longer. We covered that report and the Cabinet decision in our earlier story.

What the orders would do

• One free stay of up to 30 minutes per vehicle per day, tied to the registration number and valid anywhere in the borough. Use it in Southgate in the morning and a stop in Enfield Town that afternoon is charged.
• On street, the free half hour applies every day, Monday to Sunday, in eligible paid bays.
• In the council’s 11 pay-to-park car parks it applies Monday to Saturday. Enfield Town’s car parks keep their existing three hours free on Sundays.
• The dedicated 45-minute free bays at Lodge Drive, Palmers Green, and Fords Grove, Winchmore Hill, are removed and replaced by the borough-wide 30 minutes.
• You still have to start a session. The orders say the free period only counts if a parking session is “obtained by a method approved by the Council”. The orders provide for cashless electronic sessions, and allow vouchers, but say the council does not have to issue a paper voucher for the free period.

Staying longer: the free half hour is not added on

This is the detail most likely to catch people out. If you decide to stay beyond 30 minutes, you must buy a paid session before the free period ends. That paid session is counted from the moment you arrived, not from the end of the free half hour.

In practice, a driver who wants to stay an hour pays for one hour (£3.30 on street), not for a free half hour plus an hour. The free period also counts towards the bay’s maximum stay. (Draft Paid Parking Consolidation Order, articles 8 and 12)

What it would cost

In paid bays on street:

• up to 30 minutes: free, once a day
• up to 1 hour: £3.30
• up to 2 hours: £6.50
• up to 3 hours: £8.00, North Middlesex Hospital area only
• up to 4 hours: £9.00, North Middlesex Hospital area only

In council car parks, Monday to Saturday:

• up to 30 minutes: free, once a day
• up to 1 hour: £1.60
• more than 1 hour, up to 3 hours: £3.10
• more than 3 hours, up to 5 hours: £7.10
• over 5 hours: £11.50

The car park charges from one hour are the same as now, and so are the one and two hour charges on street. What disappears is the short on-street stay: the September Cabinet report put a 15-minute stop at 90p and a 30-minute stop at £1.70. (Cabinet report KD 6106)

The 11 car parks named in the orders are:

• Enfield Town: Church Lane, Genotin Road, Little Park Gardens, New River Loop and Sydney Road (small)
• Elsewhere: Lion Road (Edmonton Green), Eagle House (Ponders End), Raynham Road (Upper Edmonton), Lodge Drive (Palmers Green), Minchenden (Southgate) and Fords Grove (Winchmore Hill)

Pay and display goes in two parking zones

Two of the four orders deal with shared-use bays, where residents with permits and paying visitors park side by side. In the Upper Edmonton zone and the Queens Avenue zone, the orders would:

• remove the requirement to pay at pay and display machines and display a paper ticket
• replace it with cashless parking sessions
• add the free 30 minutes
• set visitor charges at £3.30 for an hour and £6.50 for two hours, plus £8 for three hours and £9 for four in Upper Edmonton

Residents’ and visitors’ permits in both zones are unchanged, the notice says.

What it means for you

• To object or support the plan, write by 28 October. Email JourneysandPlaces@enfield.gov.uk or write to Journeys and Places, Civic Centre, Silver Street, Enfield EN1 3XD. Quote reference TG52/1627. An objection must say why you object.
• You can read the paper copies at the Town Library, 66 Church Street, Enfield EN2 6AX, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
• If you park in Palmers Green or Winchmore Hill, the trade-off is direct: Lodge Drive and Fords Grove lose their 45 free minutes with no daily limit, in exchange for 30 free minutes once a day across the whole car park.
• Nothing has changed yet. Keep paying as now until signs change. After the objection period closes, the final decision rests with the council’s Executive Director of Environment and Communities. The Cabinet member for environment told Cabinet in September the scheme was “proposed to be in place by November 2026”. (Cabinet minutes, 9 September 2026)

Current car parks, permits and payment options are on our parking in Enfield page.