It was hailed as “the future of UK parking”, intended to remove one of the bugbears of modern life: the need to sign up to a plethora of different apps in order to park your car.
But a big question mark now hangs over the future of the National Parking Platform (NPP), a government-funded scheme designed to make drivers’ lives easier by letting them use one app of their choice to pay for all their parking.
After more than five years’ work by officials and promises of a nationwide rollout, the government has been accused of pulling the plug on the scheme by ending its financial support.
The NPP has been under development at the Department for Transport (DfT) since 2019, but taxpayer funding for the scheme’s pilot version is being withdrawn from the end of March, with a minister seemingly blaming “the dire financial position” Labour inherited from the Tories.
This has left some wondering whether it may be the end of the road for the scheme. The RAC said: “Without any government funding, it’s hard to see how any further progress can be made.”
The DfT, however, said it was working with the parking industry to “explore options for taking forward delivery of a national platform” and that it understood the sector “is both willing and able to deliver it without taxpayer funding”.
There are thought to be at least 30 different parking apps in the UK, and it is not unusual for someone to have a number on their phone. Among the biggest are RingGo, PayByPhone and JustPark.
A survey published in 2024 by Autocar, however, found that “more than four in five motorists dislike using car parking apps”, with 83% saying they preferred to use cash or contactless card payments.
The charity Age UK said many older people had told it they were “at the end of their tether” when it came to paying for parking because they were unable to park when an app or mobile phone was required.
The RAC’s head of policy, Simon Williams, said many people were overwhelmed by the multitude of apps they had to use, “when in reality you want one that you like and you’re happy using and that you can use everywhere”.
The NPP was intended to bring this “one app fits all” vision to life by creating technology that sits behind the various apps and connecting up potentially thousands of council and privately-owned parking sites into a single system.
Live trials have been taking place since 2021, and Rishi Sunak’s government officially launched the initiative in September 2023. It was originally expected to be rolled out nationwide in late 2024, until the general election intervened.
In answer to a written question earlier this month, the transport minister Lilian Greenwood said the Labour government supported the NPP concept, but “we are of the view that it could and should be delivered without the need to rely on public funding”.
The pilot version of the NPP would be funded until the end of March while discussions continued, she said.
Williams said: “It’s very disappointing the government has decided to pull the plug on the NPP after more than five years’ work.”
A DfT spokesperson said: “We support the NPP and we understand the parking sector is both willing and able to deliver it without taxpayer funding. We are working closely with them on how this can be achieved.”
