Bristol Residents' Parking Permits 2026: What a Permit Costs in Your Zone and How Many Visitor Permits You Get

Price your own residents' and visitor permits in any of Bristol's 19 parking zones, from £129 for a first permit to £581 for a third. Zone hours, free visitor allowances, the April 2026 rise, and which new homes cannot get a permit at all. From the council's own pages.

Updated 13 November 2026

A Bristol street of tall Victorian terraced houses on a hill with cars parked nose to tail along one side and a residents' parking sign on a lamp post

A first residents' permit in Bristol costs £129 for most cars and £193 for the highest-emitting ones, and the second and third get dearer fast. Pick your zone and your car and the sum is done below.

Price your own permits

Your residents' parking zone

When was your car first registered?

CO2 figure in grams per km (it is on the V5C log book)

Permits you want for the household

About your home It has off-street parking It is on a private road

Visitor permits you expect to use in a year

If you have two cars, enter the one in the higher CO2 band: the council prices the first permit on that one.

£129first permit for most cars, in every zone except the Central Parking Zone

£193first permit for bands L and M, over 225 g/km

£233 and £581second and third permit a year, whatever the car

£2.00each visitor permit once the free ones run out (£2.50 in Clifton Village, Clifton East and Kingsdown)

Zone by zone: when the rules bite and how many visitor days you get

There are 19 areas on the council's list. In most of them a permit matters on weekdays from 9am to 5pm, but Redcliffe, Kingsdown, Spike Island and Cliftonwood run to 7pm and Saturdays, and Bower Ashton and Edward Road never switch off.

Zone	When a permit or ticket is needed	Free visitor permits	Extra visitor permits
Bedminster East	Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm	50	50 at £2.00
Bower Ashton	Permit needed at all times, every day except Christmas Day (shared-use stretch on Kennel Lodge Road: Monday to Saturday, 9am to 9pm)	70	70 at £2.00
Central Parking Zone	Hours not given on the council page we opened	Not on the council's visitor table
Cheswick Village	Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm	50	50 at £2.00
Clifton East	North of Oakfield Road: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. South of it: Monday to Saturday, 9am to 9pm	60	60 at £2.50
Clifton Village	North of Clifton Park: Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. South of it: Monday to Saturday, 9am to 9pm	60	60 at £2.50
Cliftonwood and Hotwells	Monday to Saturday, 9am to 7pm	60	60 at £2.00
Cotham	Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm	50	50 at £2.00
Cotham North	Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm	50	50 at £2.00
Easton and St Philips	Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm	50	50 at £2.00
Edward Road and Chatsworth Road	Every day, 24 hours	70	70 at £2.00
Kingsdown	Monday to Saturday, 9am to 7pm	60	60 at £2.50
Montpelier	Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm	50	50 at £2.00
Pitlochry Close	Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm	50	50 at £2.00
Redcliffe	Monday to Saturday, 9am to 7pm	60	60 at £2.00
Redland	Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm	50	50 at £2.00
Southville	Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm	60	60 at £2.00
Spike Island	Monday to Saturday, 9am to 7pm	60	60 at £2.00
St Pauls	Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm	50	50 at £2.00

One visitor permit covers one vehicle for one day. Unused ones expire 12 months after they are issued, and the allowance resets on the date you applied for your first visitor permits.

What changed on 8 April 2026, and the zone where the bill doubled

Almost everywhere: about four per cent

The first permit rose from £124 to £129 (£186 to £193 for bands L and M), the second from £224 to £233, the third from £560 to £581. Visitor permits went from £1.30 to £2.00.

Easton and St Philips: the old discount went

This zone had its own cheaper scale: £62 for a band A car, £74 for band B, £85 for bands C to K, £127 for L and M, with £162 and £390 for the second and third. All of it moved to the citywide figures, so a band A car now pays £129, roughly double.

From the council's notice of variation dated 17 March 2026, in force on 8 April 2026. Percentages are our arithmetic on the council's two columns.

Homes that cannot get a permit however much you pay

Car free and low car homes

Homes given planning permission after 13 October 2005 in the Central Parking Zone, or after 1 August 2018 in the other zones, are normally refused both resident and visitor permits. That covers new flats, houses split into flats, HMOs, student accommodation and homes whose garage became a room.

The council keeps a spreadsheet of every designated address and refreshes it every 14 days.

Other limits

Students in halls of residence cannot apply. Vehicles over 3.5 tonnes may not qualify. Blue Badge holders need no permit in permit, shared-use or pay and display bays. Motorbikes park free in any bay except disabled and loading ones. A private road gets one permit only.

Renting or buying in a permit zone? Settle the car question first

A car-free flag is set when planning permission is granted, so it follows the building and not the tenant. The council advises checking before you sign a tenancy or buy.

Ask a letting agent or student letting agent whether the address is on the low car list before you pay a holding deposit.
Buying: have your conveyancing solicitor raise it, and ask the estate agent whether previous owners held a permit.
Planning a drive or a parking pad? Read the conservation area guide first, because some Bristol streets need permission to lay a hard standing, then see driveway companies. In a permit parking area, a permit is needed even across your own driveway.
Turning a family house into a shared one? The shared house guide covers the planning and licence side, and car-free status can follow a conversion.

Where these numbers come from

Every figure was read on 13 November 2026 from Bristol City Council's own pages and its notice of charges. Two points we could not settle: the council's cost page gives one flat £250 for the Central Parking Zone and no opening hours, and it does not say how a car first registered after 1 April 2017 with over 225 g/km is placed (that line reads "no band"). Ask before you apply in either case.

The checker follows the council's table: bands A to K at £129, L and M at £193, and the older-car line. The CO2 bands come from GOV.UK's vehicle tax tables.