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The Council has introduced pay by phone parking outside the small parade of shops on Mays Lane. This was part of the Mays Lane (Chipping Barnet D) CPZ statutory consultation, which concluded that 'paid for (cashless) parking bays would be introduced where appropriate in suitable locations to serve the community and support local businesses'. The hours of operation are 8.00am to 6.30pm Monday to Saturday.
Our comment is that:
The implementation does not serve the community or local businesses, which are noting negative impact
The hours are excessive
Payment can only be made by phone, which some people will struggle with
There is no grace period, making it more difficult to just pop to the shops
The implementation is disproportionate for the area
The Council took money for parking in front of the Mays Lane shops before the pay parking officially went live. When informed of this, officers confirmed "that payments were taken in error, all payments made before the 15 December have now been refunded."
The local pet shop has now launched a petition against the charges.
The Barnet Society article 'Despair among Mays Lane traders as introduction of pay-by-phone parking charges leads to a dramatic loss in customers' can be found here.
Age UK and Loughborough University have published reports about the cashless society:
Age UK: Behind the Headlines - Short-changed: How the decline of cash is affecting older people
Age UK: Offline and overlooked
"where are cash-dependent consumers supposed to park legally, when in many areas of the UK ticket machines only accept card payments? A truly inclusive payment system requires intentional design, embedding accessibility, user diversity and affordability into both the Vision and the roadmap"
AA - Cash remains king for parking
BBC - Pay by app 'digitally excludes older drivers'
Barnet Council - Ageing Well Health Needs Assessment 2023/24
Please complain and make your views known. Ask the Council to review their decision.
Please send to (copy all):
Parking consultations: parking.consultations@barnet.gov.uk
MP: dan.tomlinson.mp@parliament.uk
Councillors: Cllr.Z.Beg@barnet.gov.uk, cllr.t.roberts@barnet.gov.uk
Council officers: craig.miller@barnet.gov.uk, alice.nugent@barnet.gov.uk, phineas.skipper@barnet.gov.uk
Underhill Residents Group: contact@underhillresidents.uk
The Council's position, 10 February 2026
An informal consultation was carried out in the Chipping Barnet (D) CPZ area for a proposed extension between 2 May 2023 and 31 May 2023 with gave people an opportunity to tell us about any parking concerns they may have.
Following agreement to include Mays Lane in the CPZ a statutory consultation was undertaken between 17 July 2025 and 14 August 2025, which gave people another opportunity to tell us their views. The outcome of these two engagements can be found at https://www.barnet.gov.uk/directories/all-closed-consultation-and-engagement/mays-lane-chipping-barnet-d-cpz-statutory
Within a CPZ, the council designates specific sections, like parades, for shops, which are areas with their own rules, like loading bays or short-stay spots for shoppers, which operate differently from the residential bays.
Officers confirm the paid for parking bays were introduced in Mays Lane, which is included in the Chipping barnet (D) CPZ and operates from Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 6:30 pm to encourage a consistent turnover of customers to the businesses in this location.
Blue Badge holders can park for free in any paid for parking bay or residential bay for an unlimited time.
Local authorities, such as Barnet do not typically support free paid-for parking within Controlled Parking Zones (CPZs) because they are established to generate revenue to cover the costs of installation, maintenance, and enforcement.
The council aims to provide short stay payment parking arrangements close to local shops to encourage a high turnover of vehicles, which would simplify enforcement to help promote local business. CPZs also aims to improve parking conditions for residents and businesses, reduce congestion, and enhance road safety.
Permit charges are set by committee in consideration of the price of other products and has since been adjusted appropriately for inflation through fees and charges. Fees and charges are set by Cabinet, which are reviewed and approved annually as part of the budget-setting process.
This process ensures fees are appropriate for the current economic conditions and align with the council's goal of providing value for money.
The cabinet will consider recommendations, often from a dedicated report, and may adjust fees based on factors like cost recovery, competitor analysis, and affordability.
Our response, 20 February 2026
Formal Complaint – Implementation of Paid-for Parking (CPZ Extension), Mays Lane Shops
I am writing to formally lodge a complaint regarding the recent implementation of pay-by-phone parking schemes at the Mays Lane shops within the Chipping Barnet (D) CPZ extension.
However, before launching into that, I would ask that when officers copy and paste that standard response next time, please change the 'with' after '31 May 2023' to 'which'.
Barnet Council's stated aims may be 'encouraging turnover' and 'reducing congestion', but the current strategy is fundamentally flawed. It fails to account for the unique economic ecosystem of local parades and high streets and creates an uneven playing field that explicitly favours large-scale companies over independent local small businesses.
My objections are based on the following grounds:
1. Economic damage and 'friction' costs
The Council argues that paid parking encourages turnover; however, it ignores the 'friction cost' of small transactions.
The 'quick stop' penalty: Customers who previously stopped for two minutes to get something from Coopers, Mays Pets or the off-licence are now required to engage with a digital payment interface. For a £1.00 purchase, the time and effort required to pay for parking often exceed the value of the errand.
Displacement of trade: Evidence suggests that rather than 'turning over', customers simply bypass these shops entirely in favour of locations where 'popping in is frictionless. This leads to a measurable decline in footfall for independent retailers who rely on spontaneous, short-term visits. This ultimately will destroy small businesses.
2. Systematic bias toward supermarkets
The current policy creates a taxpayer-funded competitive advantage for major supermarkets.
Free parking disparity: Large supermarkets in and around the borough offer 1–3 hours of free, effortless parking. By imposing charges and digital barriers at Mays Lane, the Council is effectively subsidising the business models of large companies by driving local shoppers toward them.
Economic exclusion: While the Council cites 'value for money', this policy penalises the local micro-economy. Residents on lower incomes or those who are less tech-savvy are disproportionately discouraged from using local shops, further entrenching the dominance of out-of-town retail hubs.
3. Contradiction of 'business promotion' claims
The Council's response claims these measures "help promote local business." This is demonstrably false in the context of a cost-of-living crisis.
Revenue vs. vitality: Your correspondence admits that CPZs are established to 'generate revenue to cover costs.' It is cynical to frame a revenue-generation exercise as a benefit to businesses when those very businesses are reporting that the difficulty of parking is driving customers away.
The inflationary burden: While the Council has 'adjusted for inflation' regarding permit charges, it has failed to consider the inflationary pressure on the small business owners whose margins are being squeezed by reduced footfall.
4. Flaws in the consultation logic
While the Council cites the 2023 and 2025 consultations, the implementation of 'pay by phone' as the primary method is exclusionary. It assumes all residents have the hardware, data, and time to navigate an app for a five-minute stop. This creates a digital barrier to entry for the local shops that does not exist at larger shopping centres.
Formal Request for Redress
To mitigate the economic damage being caused to the Mays Lane business community, I request that the Council considers the following:
A 'grace period' policy: Implementation of a free 15–30 minute parking window to support short-stay shopping, maintaining turnover without penalising local trade.
Impact assessment: A formal review of footfall and business turnover on Mays Lane since the implementation compared to pre-2023 levels.
Competitor neutrality: An adjustment of fees to ensure that local high streets are not being priced out of existence in favour of free supermarket car parks.
Ultimately, the removal of this unwanted intervention altogether would be preferable.
Breach of Public Sector Equality Duty (Equality Act 2010)
The reliance on a pay by phone-only system at Mays Lane constitutes digital exclusion. This policy disproportionately impacts elderly residents and those without smartphones.
ICO Context: Previous rulings (e.g., FS50500286) emphasised that the Council must be transparent about its service delivery contracts. There is no evidence of a robust tailored Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) that justifies the removal of cash/physical payment options at this location.
I look forward to a detailed response that addresses the economic disparity between independent local shops and supermarkets, rather than a reiteration of the standard CPZ procedural guidelines.
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