Cobh (Pay Parking) Bye Laws, 2012 – The Facts

The Cobh (Pay Parking) Bye Laws will come into effect from Monday 19^th March, 2012. The principal change from the previous Bye Laws is that there will no longer be a charge for parking in the Five Foot Way Carpark. Other than this, the main provisions of the Pay Parking Bye Laws remain unchanged.

The first hour free parking per day remains unchanged in the Bye Laws. This free hour only applies to the first parking space a person occupies in any one day and cannot be transferred to another space or used up at a later time. Effectively, if someone parks within the pay parking area for less than an hour in the morning, they cannot park free of charge later in the day. (This is unchanged since the 2010 Bye Laws).

Additionally, the Council is required to enforce the new national regulations in regard to disabled drivers, which state that they are only entitled to park for the posted street time limit. This will mean that all disabled permit holders who live on streets where paid parking is in force, will have to apply for Residents Parking Permits. These will be issued free of charge to holders of valid disabled permits who live in these areas and will allow them to park without time restriction. The Council understands that these changes in the national regulations were introduced by the Department of Transport following consultation with the Irish Wheelchair Association and the Disabled Drivers Association.

In addition to agreeing changes to the Parking Bye Laws, the members of the Town Council have agreed to increase the maximum parking times in the town centre from 2 hours to 3 hours. At present, the Council is in the process of arranging for new signs to be ordered and erected; however, this process will take some time and will mean that some areas will have the 3 hour limit in place before others. Any person parking in the town centre should check the parking signs to see what limits apply in a particular street.