New interactive map: which councils have the best parking policy in London?

We’ve teamed up with CPRE to launch a new map which evaluates the parking policies of each London borough from a climate perspective.

Parking policy is a key tool councils have to tackle climate change and reduce our reliance on cars, but hardly any are using these powers effectively.

Having evaluated all London councils, we’ve published the findings of this research in an interactive map of London.

The research found a wide variation across boroughs – with a clear message that all London boroughs need to do more to implement and utilise parking policies effectively.

The boroughs of Camden, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Lambeth were rated among the highest of all London boroughs, measured to have significantly better parking policies than others and receiving scores over 50 out of 100.

At least ten boroughs, including Bexley, Havering, Hillingdon, and Redbridge had some of the poorest parking policies and therefore received scores under 20.

We evaluated the parking policy of every borough in London by grouping areas of policy into key categories such as the cost of parking, controlled parking zones in place, availability of EV charging, and accessibility, and identifying key pieces of policy which we wanted to see evidenced in each of these categories.

The more policy a council had in place, the higher their score in each category. A council's overall score is an average of their scores across all categories.

Despite parking policy being a cost effective intervention that can have a significant positive impact on climate, road safety, air quality and accessibility, there is a lack of action on parking in London’s boroughs.

We’re calling on every London borough to commit to reallocating at least 25% of this kerbside space for more sustainable uses, such as parklets, rain gardens, cycle storage/parking and sustainable transport hire.

Additionally, councils can take action by introducing more controlled parking zones in their boroughs, including on housing estates, which can be susceptible to commuter parking, turning them into free-for-all car parks and limiting public space for people.

Carolyn Axtell, parklets campaign manager at climate charity Possible, said:

“Parking policy is one of the most effective tools a council can use to combat the climate crisis. It is not cost-prohibitive, and can encourage people in all London boroughs to reduce their car use – which is necessary for both the capital and the UK to meet their climate targets.

“As the Parking Action Policy map shows, most of London’s councils are failing to make full use of parking policy to deliver safe and accessible streets, and to ensure that there is equity in the distribution of public space.

“While some London boroughs are leading the way in on using parking policy to create climate friendly and more equitable streets, , we still have a lot of work to do.”

Alice Roberts, head of campaigns at Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) London, said:

“Cars are hugely inefficient of space: car dominance leads to loss of, and lack of, parks and play spaces within cities, where land is swallowed up by huge amounts of ‘grey space’ given to roads and parking.

“We advocate for cities run on public transport, walking and cycling – with space freed up for more greenery, parks and space to be active, outdoors and in contact with nature.”