East Suffolk Council joins the National Parking Platform

Drivers and bikers visiting 75 locations across east Suffolk can now choose from a range of different payment apps after East Suffolk Council agreed to join a new National Parking Platform (NPP).

The NPP offers an Open Market (OM) payment model designed to encourage healthy competition between parking payment providers and incentivise innovation within the industry. 

READ MORE: East Suffolk Council set to join new national parking app

Previously, drivers had to use the app that applied to a particular car park, which would have to be downloaded, but under the NPP there will be a broader choice of apps available, meaning they should be able to use their preferred app.

Initially, there will be five apps available in east Suffolk locations, but more should become available.

These are RingGo, PayByPhone, JustPark, APCOA Connect and AppyParking+.

Toby Hammond, East Suffolk’s cabinet member for economic development and transport (Image: Contributed)

Toby Hammond, East Suffolk’s cabinet member for economic development and transport, said: “Across the country, car park providers use a range of different parking apps, meaning drivers may need to download several different apps, depending on where they are parked.

READ MORE: Suffolk news

"This can be inconvenient and time consuming however drivers using council-owned car parks in East Suffolk will now have more choice about which provider to use when paying for their parking."

Other local authorities around the country have already joined the NPP, including in Manchester, Coventry and Oxfordshire.

In December, this newspaper revealed how motorists would have to pay a 20p convenience fee after East Suffolk Council agreed to join the NPP.

The council had been absorbing the 20p charge for using the RingGo app to pay for parking, which cost the council £177,700 in 2022/23 and was estimated to be £208,659 for 2023/24.