British Parking Association to lead National Parking Platform consortium

Government says ‘NPP Company’ will be backed by providers including RingGo, JustPark and PayByPhone

The British Parking Association has teamed up with a number of cashless parking providers to take over delivery of a new payment platform.

Six weeks after it withdrew financial support for the project, the government has confirmed that the BPA will now take forward the development and running of the National Parking Platform (NPP).

The platform is designed to enable drivers to pay for parking run by participating operators on their preferred cashless payment channel, removing the need to sign up multiple different apps in order to pay for parking. Advocates of the NPP say the platform could potentially connect thousands of council and privately-owned parking sites into a single system.

The platform has been under development at the Department for Transport (DfT) since 2019, but in the context of a tightening of government budgets taxpayer funding for the pilot version was withdrawn on 31 March.

The government says negotiations with the parking sector has ensured that going forward the NPP will be delivered by a consortium led by the BPA which includes cashless parking providers RingGo, JustPark and PayByPhone.

Minister for the future of roads Lilian Greenwood said: “This government is on the side of drivers, and dedicated to giving everyone simpler, more flexible parking. I’m delighted that this fantastic project is being taken on by the parking sector with no extra cost to taxpayers.

“This is public infrastructure done right: built by government, shaped with councils, and now delivered by the sector that knows it best, at a time where we’re investing a record £1.6bn through our Plan for Change, to mend our pothole-ridden roads which damage cars, and £4.8bn to deliver new road infrastructure that will better connect people.”

The Department for Transport says the consortium will work with councils to run the NPP on a not-for-profit basis and operate it under clear terms to ensure transparency, sustainability and public value. The government says it will maintain oversight of the platform by monitoring the sector’s compliance with these terms.

So far, the NPP has been rolled out in 10 local authorities and now handles over half a million transactions a month.

The 10 local authorities using the NPP are:

• Buckinghamshire Council
• Cheshire West and Chester
• Coventry City Council
• East Suffolk Council
• Liverpool City Council
• Manchester City Council
• Oxfordshire County Council
• Peterborough City Council
• Sutton
• Walsall Council

Andrew Pester, BPA chief executive, said: “Today’s announcement marks the result of six years of dedicated work by our parking sector to make paying for parking easier. We've strongly supported the National Parking Platform from the start, so we’re thrilled with this outcome and excited to collaborate with the Department for Transport and the new NPP Company to create a better parking experience for all drivers.”

The new consortium will be onboarding more local authorities imminently, says the BPA.

There are thought to be at least 30 different parking apps now active in the UK. It is, as yet, unclear whether any of these are on-board the new NPP offer.

Besides PayByPhone, JustPark and RingGo, there are a number of other cashless parking brands, including the widely used MiPermit by Unity5, as well as services provided by emerging payment providers and ones run by specific parking operators.

The NPP website can be found here