A Fairer Parking System for Farnham Residents#

Zones A and B cover the residential streets closest to Farnham town centre. Parking arrangements in these zones are under review because residents across the area face the same problem: more vehicles need to park than there are spaces available.

Street-by-street changes alone can simply displace parking into neighbouring streets. This is why a zone-wide approach matters — and why Farnham Voice is gathering views from everyone who lives in, works in, or regularly uses these areas.

The purpose is to establish what residents actually want.

This is a living page. It may contain errors and will be continuously updated as new information is shared. If you spot something that needs correcting, please let us know.

On this page#

Have your say
What residents pay today
The key issue for Zones A and B
Options being considered
Resident Off Peak Permit — how it works in practice
Who controls parking?
The Castle Street petition (2022)
Related: town centre parking petition (2026)
Related: High Park and South View petition
Parking finances and enforcement
Students living in Farnham
Learning from other towns

Have your say#

Already support the proposals? Sign the petition to add your name to the call for a fairer parking system in Farnham.

Sign the petition →

Want to share your detailed view? The survey asks which proposals you support, which you oppose, and which you consider most important. Whether you support or object, we want to hear from you. The results will be shared openly with the council.

Take the survey

The survey will take under 10 minutes. Your responses will be anonymous in published results.

Parking review submissions. With the transition to West Surrey Council under Local Government Reform, it is not yet clear how new parking review submissions will be handled. Surrey’s parking review rules for Waverley allow the council to reject submissions that duplicate requests already made. The existing petition and this extended survey should provide the strongest basis for the next formal parking review.

What residents pay today#

On-street permits are issued by Surrey County Council. The Resident Off Peak Permit for nearby car parks is issued by Waverley Borough Council. These are controlled by different authorities, so some solutions may require both Surrey and Waverley involvement.

Option	Cost	What it provides
Surrey resident permit (first)	£88/year	On-street parking in your zone
Surrey resident permit (second)	£108/year	Second household permit
Waverley Resident Off Peak Permit	£200/year	Limited-hours access to Riverside 3, Upper Hart and Waggon Yard
Waverley Off Peak Permit	£374/year	Wider off-peak use of eligible Waverley car parks

Sources: Surrey parking permits · Waverley car park permits

The key issue for Zones A and B#

On-street parking is controlled by Surrey County Council. Nearby council car parks are controlled by Waverley Borough Council.

Using Waverley car parks as overflow is possible, but the existing Resident Off Peak Permit costs more than a first Surrey resident permit, and is limited by location and hours.

Changes on one street can displace vehicles into neighbouring streets. This is why the issue should be considered across the whole zone.

Castle Street had approximately 91 parking spaces — only 33 permit-only (08:00–20:00), with the remaining 58 shared between permit holders and pay-and-display. An estimated 70–100 homes without off-road parking are each entitled to two permits, meaning 140–200 vehicles may compete for 91 spaces before visitors use the pay-and-display bays.

Residents who work during the day regularly return home to find no available spaces. Outside permit hours, anyone can park, and inadequate signage means many drivers park without realising restrictions apply.

This is fundamentally a mathematical issue — there are more permits than spaces — and resolving it will likely require multiple coordinated changes rather than a single fix.

The permit allowance reduction makes this worse. Surrey County Council has reduced the number of permits available per household. For streets where residents already outnumber spaces, any reduction in the household permit allowance directly compounds the shortfall — meaning fewer entitlements do nothing to reduce the number of vehicles needing to park.
Three changes, taken together, could meaningfully shift the balance for Zone A and B residents:
Car park overflow access — giving residents the right to park in nearby council car parks during evenings and overnight is one of the most practical reliefs available, without requiring structural changes to the zone itself. This is the single biggest lever available to residents in the short term.
Worker parking improvements — a significant share of vehicles parked on residential zone streets during working hours belong to people commuting into Farnham for work, not residents. A dedicated worker parking permit scheme would move many of these vehicles into public car parks, directly freeing space for residents throughout the day.
Additional zone capacity — Surrey County Council is actively reviewing where additional permit bays can be created within Zones A and B, which would increase the total number of spaces available to residents.
None of these changes requires the others to work — but together they would address the problem from supply, demand, and access simultaneously.

Options being considered#

These proposals originated with the Castle Street petition in 2022, but the issues apply across Zones A and B.

Primary requests:

24/7 residents parking — change permit parking restriction times from 08:00–20:00 to 24 hours, 7 days a week. Leaving any parking window leads to non-residents taking their chances, observed by residents in the evenings when enforcement is minimal.
Improved signage — updated, more prominent signage showing the restrictions clearly.

Additional requests:

Remove pay-and-display zones and machines — convert shared bays to residents-only (Zone Parking Only). Having dual purpose adds consistent confusion.
Review enforcement — review parking enforcement patrols, schedules and frequency.
Resident overflow into council car parks — a revised or new permit category allowing Zone A and B residents to park in designated nearby council car parks during evening, overnight, and weekend hours at a cost that reflects genuine resident need rather than commercial season-ticket pricing.

Resident Off Peak Permit — how it works in practice#

Waverley Borough Council offers a Resident Off Peak Permit for residents living near a designated car park.

Cost: £200/year
One permit per household
No guaranteed space
Farnham car parks: Riverside 3, Upper Hart, Waggon Yard
Formal permit times: Monday to Friday 08:00–09:30 and 16:30–18:30; all day Saturday and bank holidays

Source: Waverley car park permits

What does this mean in practice?#

At Riverside 3, Upper Hart and Waggon Yard, normal charging ends at 18:30 and begins again at 08:00. The Resident Off Peak Permit covers 16:30–18:30 and 08:00–09:30. This means a permit holder can effectively park from 16:30 until 09:30 the following morning, because the period between 18:30 and 08:00 is already free.

Sources: Riverside 3 · Upper Hart · Waggon Yard

In practical terms, this creates an overnight parking window from 16:30 until 09:30 the next morning:

Park from 16:30 using the permit
Remain parked after 18:30 when parking becomes free
Stay overnight without needing a permit
Remain parked after charging restarts at 08:00
Continue using the permit until 09:30

The permit does not provide reserved parking and is limited to one permit per household.

Not all Farnham car parks are free after 18:30. Central, Lower Hart and South Street charge until 22:00. The 18:30 free period applies specifically to Riverside 3, Upper Hart and Waggon Yard.
Sources: Central · Lower Hart · South Street

Other Waverley car park permits#

For context, Waverley also offers season tickets and contract permits for its car parks:

Permit type	Cost (annual)
Riverside 1/2/3 season ticket	£963
St James season ticket	£1,122
Upper Hart season ticket	£1,447
South Street contract permit	£1,612
Upper Hart contract permit	£1,670
Waggon Yard season ticket	£1,773

Source: Waverley car park permits

Who controls parking?#

Surrey County Council — responsible for on-street parking, resident parking zones, permit bays, yellow lines, parking restrictions and on-street enforcement.

Waverley Borough Council — responsible for council-owned off-street car parks, car-park charging and Waverley car-park permits. These will transfer to West Surrey Council in April 2027.

Some solutions may require both authorities to act.

The Castle Street petition (2022)#

In 2022, a group of Castle Street residents submitted a petition calling for practical improvements to the local parking arrangements.

Download the Castle Street parking petition (PDF) →

At the time, the residents who organised the petition investigated options beyond the four proposals listed above — including overflow parking into surrounding council car parks, and identifying additional places in town where capacity could be added.

Three things became clear:

This was a wider issue than Castle Street alone. Residents across Zones A and B were experiencing the same problems.
The Farnham Infrastructure Programme (FIP) overshadowed every conversation. Any discussion about parking was redirected to the FIP, making it difficult to address immediate concerns.
The petition was passed to the FIP team, who were too stretched to take it forward. The petition stalled.

With the transition to West Surrey Council approaching, there is now an opportunity to revisit these proposals.

FIP parking bay removals on Castle Street

The Farnham Infrastructure Programme removes spaces previously available to both Zone A permit holders and pay-and-display users, resulting in the loss of around 17 parking spaces on Castle Street. Concerns about the reduction were raised during consultation. In an effort to offset the expected loss, local representatives from Farnham Voice also campaigned for 12 additional spaces near the dentist in the centre of Castle Street. This proposal was unsuccessful.

The scheme therefore proceeded without replacement parking. The council did, however, commit to reviewing parking arrangements after the works are complete to assess the impact of the changes.

Sources: FIP parking changes — Decision Report (PDF) · FIP — Parking Restriction Changes (PDF)

In early 2026, a separate petition to Waverley Borough Council gathered 81 signatures calling for parking relief during the Farnham Infrastructure Programme works. The petition asked the council to maintain the £1 parking offer (Monday to Thursday after 1pm) for the full duration of the FIP disruption and to make Brightwell Car Park free while works continue. The petitioner highlighted restricted town centre access, poorly lit car parks, uncompetitive pricing compared to nearby towns, and harm to local businesses from reduced footfall.

The petition ran from 29 January to 15 March 2026. While focused on temporary measures during the FIP, the concerns it raises — car park pricing, accessibility, and the relationship between parking policy and town centre viability — overlap with the longer-term questions addressed on this page.

A separate petition has been raised by residents of High Park and South View calling for improvements to parking in those areas. If you live in or around High Park or South View and support the aims of that petition, you can add your name directly.

Sign the High Park and South View petition →

Parking finances and enforcement#

We reviewed Surrey’s parking accounts to understand the scale of permit income, parking charges and enforcement revenue.

Surrey on-street parking account, 2024/25#

	Amount
Permit income	£1.32m
On-street parking charges	£1.23m
On-street PCN income	£3.37m
Parking suspensions and waivers	£0.31m
Total income	£6.24m
Enforcement contractor	£5.55m
Surplus	£0.68m

Source: Surrey Parking Services Annual Report 2024/25

The use of surplus from the on-street parking account is restricted by section 55 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. Permitted uses include parking and enforcement costs and, subject to the statutory conditions, areas such as public transport, highway improvements and certain environmental improvements.

PCNs and enforcement#

Surrey issued 111,310 on-street parking PCNs during 2024/25. Separately, 32,480 PCNs were issued through CCTV enforcement. Surrey reports 143,790 PCNs across all enforcement types. Of all PCNs issued, 14,609 were subsequently cancelled or written off.

Surrey’s on-street enforcement is carried out on its behalf by NSL, part of Marston Holdings. NSL employs the Civil Enforcement Officers. SCC states that officers receive a fixed hourly rate and are not part of an incentive scheme linked to the number of PCNs issued. The seven-year contract commenced on 1 April 2023.

Sources: Surrey Parking Services Annual Report 2024/25 · SCC Audit and Governance Committee, November 2024

Students living in Farnham#

Students who live in Farnham are residents too.

If you live within Parking Zone A or B and your property is eligible for resident permits, the same parking pressures can affect you as any other household.

The Zone A/B petition asks Surrey County Council to investigate resident parking capacity across both zones — including longer permit-only periods, appropriate resident-only parking, and access to nearby public car parks where suitable capacity exists.

If you live within Zone A or B and support those proposals, you can sign the resident parking petition and take part in the Farnham Voice parking survey.

One caveat worth being clear about: permit eligibility depends on the individual property and existing parking arrangements. Living geographically within a zone does not necessarily mean every address qualifies for a permit — some developments are specifically excluded under planning conditions.