Unity5: Legislation Update - Navigating the New DfT Pavement Regulations

For years, pavement parking has been a point of contention for local authorities, disability advocates, and pedestrians alike. In January 2026, the Department for Transport (DfT) officially shifted the landscape, granting local authorities across England the power to enforce against the “unnecessary obstruction” of pavements—a power previously largely reserved for London.

At Unity5, we understand that new legislation brings both opportunity and administrative challenges. Our cloud hosted Saas technology supports Local Authorities across England to implement and monitor these changes smoothly and effectively, enabling customers to deliver a safer, more accessible kerbside.

A Locally-Led Approach to Enforcement

The new legislation isn’t a one-size-fits-all mandate. Instead, it encourages a “locally-led” strategy, allowing councils to design charging models that balance effective deterrence with public acceptance.

To support this, Unity5 provides the data-driven infrastructure to model and report on various implementation strategies:

Our real-time reports and dashboards allow managers to track issuance and payment trends by contravention code, zone, and location, ensuring your chosen model is effectively clearing pavements and protecting citizens.

Technical Implementation

While the regulatory update is national, the technical setup depends on the specific requirements of the authority. Due to the flexibility within our platforms, our team can work with Authorities to quickly and efficiently deliver pavement parking in a way that is clear to users and consistent with the legislation.

Hannah Fuller, Director of Commercial Strategy and Partnerships at Unity5 said:

As we add this new enforcement type into the system, we recognise that volume predictions are difficult. Unity5 is committed to a pricing structure that is consistent across our client base while accounting for the administrative costs of increased PCN volumes.

The Goal: Clearer Pavements, Safer Streets

This landmark shift is about more than just tickets; it’s about accessibility. By utilising the reporting power of Unity5 solutions, local authorities can ensure that the “unnecessary obstruction” of our walkways becomes a thing of the past.

If pavement parking is something that you would like to implement, please contact our team to learn more about how our software delivers smart, scalable, flexible solutions for Local Authorities across the UK.

About Unity5

Unity5 is the creator of Zatpark - SaaS Solutions For Parking, Enforcement and Environmental Management - Designed for private parking companies and public sector bodies, Zatpark delivers world-class features completely controlling and automating the full lifecycle of parking enforcement data, from issue to recovery action and every step in-between. Built-in ANPR, Moving Traffic Violation Management and dedicated Permit and Kiosk solutions, Zatpark, Zatmobile, Zatpermit, Zatenviro, and Zatpark Flexible Enforcement provide end-to-end management of all your PCN and FPN activities.