Unity5: Reading Borough Council Case Study

Reading Borough Council Are Improving Local Air Quality with Innovative Software

The Council declared a climate emergency back in 2019 and the Reading Climate Change Partnership (RCCP), of which the Council is an active partner, set out a roadmap to work towards making Reading a net-zero town by 2030.

They needed to actively improve local air quality to protect vulnerable residents (children, elderly, those with respiratory conditions) by discouraging high-polluting transport.

The Catalyst for Change

Fast forward to 2025 and how could software and strategy play a part in Reading’s continuing success? The plan was to use parking tariffs as a deliberate policy tool to reduce overall reliance on private motor vehicles, prompting drivers to choose sustainable travel alternatives or cleaner, low-emission cars.

The council required tiered pricing linked to official DVLA Vehicle Excise Duty bands. High-polluting vehicles (>15g/kmCO2) face sharp surcharges (+20% for petrol, +25% for diesel), while EVs and low-emission hybrids remain at baseline rates.

Zatpermit by Unity5: The Market-Leading Digital Permit Management System

Unity5 implemented their innovative and trusted Zatpermit software, bringing a range of time-saving and automated benefits to Reading Borough Council staff, such as:

1. 24/7 customer self-service
2. Rule-based questionnaires and auto-approval
3. Seamless integration with single-sign-on
4. Digital permits and virtual scratch card permits
5. CO2 Emissions based-permits
6. Location-based permits

The Digital Transformation: Moving from a Paper Based Framework

This project set out to revolutionise Reading Borough Council’s legacy workflows, transitioning paper-heavy and flat-rate parking frameworks into a high-performing, automated ecosystem. The transformation successfully modernised four critical operational modules: digital permits, a dedicated Reading Schools Portal, emissions-based charging (EBC), and a highly bespoke children’s home permit system.

With a seamless initial rollout complete, the platform delivers solid stability and has officially transitioned to Business As Usual (BAU) support.

8 Steps to Success: The Timeline of Transformation

So how did Unity5 and Reading Borough Council implement and launch their digital software system?

• Step 1: Project scoping and implementation kick-off under the DRIVE methodology.
• Step 2: Launch of the permit digitisation phase to phase out physical paperwork and paper books.
• Step 3: Policy Committee approves the 6-band emission tariff pricing structure and the 25% diesel surcharge rules.
• Step 4: Emission based charging (permits), goes live.
• Step 6: Launch of the Reading Schools Portal phase, bulk migrating educational sites to self-service rules.
• Step 7: Live system deployment of the children’s home permit.
• Step 8: Final EBC phase go-live (transition of daily trade and landlord frameworks from standard dispensations to variable global permit sessions).

The Secret Sauce: How the Unity5 Implementation Team Created a Smooth Transition

As council officers and teams are under enough time and cost pressures, Unity5’s Implementation team ensured that the transition to digital, more automated systems was as painless as possible. They used a module based delivery where the project was executed across four distinct configuration modules – shifting the council from manual validation processes to tech-enabled automation. Here are some examples:

Module 1: Going Digital

• Eliminated paper formats: This immediately removes loss, damage, theft or cloning of permits
• Household account limits: Enforced a threshold of 2 free packs and 5 paid packs per household per rolling year. This prevents users from renewing or re-purchasing depleted permit books within a single annual cycle.

Module 2: Solutions for Reading’s Schools

• Clear permit types: separated institutional employee passes from standard resident profiles.
• Capped volumes: Configured system rules to automatically cap individual schools (e.g. Cranbury College) to their legally authorised volume allocations, avoiding accidental over-issuance.

Module 3: Emission-Based Permits (EBC)

• Used API Integration for automation: Deployed variable-tier pricing across 314 permit tariffs. The system now references automated real-time data feeds via the DVLA lookup portal.
• Multi-vehicle pricing logic: Configured dynamic assessments for multi-vehicle resident accounts; the system automatically calculates the permit cost based on whichever vehicle falls into the highest-paying CO2 emission band.
• Administrative approvals rule: Implemented a backend “Back-Office Approval Required” filter rule: this automatically prevents users from transferring an approved low-emission active permit onto a high-emission target vehicle without review.

Module 4: Bespoke Children’s Home Property Permit

• Set free permit zones: specifically anchored to the location of a local children’s home.
• Applied visibility boundaries: this keeps specialised tariffs hidden from the public portal categories, restricting access exclusively to only verified, whitelisted users.

Emissions based permits means an encouragement towards more environmentally friendly vehicles or greater use of public transport.

Success for Reading Borough Council with a Smarter, Emissions-Based Permits Solution

• By integrating live DVLA lookups directly into Zatpermit, Unity5 removed the guesswork from emissions-based charging. The moment an applicant enters their Vehicle Registration Mark (VRM), the system instantly retrieves recorded emissions data and calculates the exact permit price tier in real time.
• To safeguard council policy and protect revenue streams, Unity5 developers built an intelligent fallback mechanism. If a vehicle lacks DVLA data or is registered overseas, the system automatically applies the highest tariff tier, effectively closing potential loopholes.
• Additionally, the platform introduces highly flexible, bespoke daily charges – ideal for landlords or visiting tradespeople, with pricing structures that easily adjust from 1 to 30 days.

Has your local authority switched to using digital permit management software yet?

Contact our friendly experts here for a discovery call and see why 1 in 3 local authorities across the UK use Unity5 solutions.

To read more of our case studies click here

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.