Are new estate 'lay-by' style parking spaces for residents only or public use?

[CrazyHormoneLady]

I've noticed some estates have a kind of 'lay-by' parking on the streets opposite houses. The houses usually have driveways and it seems like the parking spots are for people who are visiting the area, either to see residents or just go for a walk.

I saw today one with a "Resident Parking" sign hammered into the ground next to it, opposite a house with a driveway. It seems like the resident in the house wants to reserve the spot for themselves, but to me it looks like a public road.

So is the resident a CF, or are they genuinely for residents only and not people visiting the area?

I've posted a satellite image of one of these estates, with the 'lay-by' parking circled so you know what I mean.

Public

Unless it is a private road or the land itself is privately owned or there is an official council residents parking scheme then it is public parking

In fact in the example you have posted the drives by the houses have numbers and parking spaces marked out so those are allocated (presumably in the deeds). The layby on the road is not.

I thought so! I don't live on the estate I saw it on, but I did feel like making a sign that says "No it isn't" and coming back to hammer it in next to the "resident's parking" sign. It's 100% not an official sign - there's no residents parking scheme either. Unfortunately I lack the time, materials and motivation, haha

I used to visit a friend who had a driveway for one car and then a layby parking space at 90 degrees to her house that she owned. They were in twos and owned by the pair of semi detached houses. However, they were immediately outside the houses and not across the road.

My mum has a “lay-by” outside hers, plus a driveway but the land is infact on her deeds. Although they have a drive they regularly park in this spot as school run parents will park in it if not, making it hard for any visitors to park in. They’ve now got a holiday home so I can imagine it’s used quite regularly now they’re not there half the time.

Interesting that the layby is on the deeds! The lay-by with the unofficial sign isn't anywhere near a school, but it's near some really good dog walks so I suspect some weekends the public parking gets busy. If the layby were on the deeds of this house, I'd try and get official signage or park there as much as possible.

My dad reckons if the lay-by has block paving then it's likely private and tarmac is probably public. Did your mum's have the block paving or was it tarmac?

Public bays.

Most modern houses are built with two parking spaces at most. A typical four bed house will at some point have one or two teenagers and therefore up to four cars, plus any visitors. So those spaces are going to be shared and well used between the estate houses but not specifically allocated to those houses.

If probably depends on the development. On my brother’s (similar setup) it is guest parking and each house has the use of one non-allocated guest parking spot. The roads are not council-adopted.

If its a public road its for anyone.

On the example you gave I just looked on land registry and the laybys are part of the public road

Thank you! I just went on FindMyStreet and it says:

"Classification: Neither M, A, B or C
Responsibility: Not maintainable at public expense, Private Street Manager
Street State: Open"

So now confused and potentially retracting my hypothetical pass-agg sign 😂

We jointly own the parking area on our road.
There are signs that are routinely ignored.

The managenent company sometines comes out and you can get a parking ticket if the correct pass isnt shown.

There are both official and non official signs as the residents are fed up of the situation.

You'd have to pay to find out exactly who owns what but the layby incorporates the road which presumably is a public highway that non residents are allowed to drive down?

I'm wondering if this is the case here then, although according to the land reg. it sounds public, but on "find my street" it's private maintenance.

Public

Many (most) new estates have roads that have not been adopted by the local council, and are owned and managed by the estate management company. So if un numbered they are available for anyone resident in or visiting the estate generally. But if the road has been adopted by the council then it's fair game for anyone, assuming no other restrictions.. Most management companies don't enforce parking, until it become a problem for the residents. At which point t becomes a permitted area and more of a pain for everyone :)

@CrazyHormoneLady my mums is blocked paved, but it definitely looks like a lay-by. It’s big enough for two cars, and the semi they’re joined into owns half of the bay. They’re not tooooo precious over it, but it did cause problems when I was still living at home and we both couldn’t get parked. But whenever they’re home they choose to park in the bay, rather than on their drive.

Our development has reserved parking, people pay money each year to cover use. The development is NOT adopted, this means the council is not funding the roads, the electricity for the lights etc.

Yep, no signs saying "private road" anywhere. Anyone can drive down and (presumably) park!

I went there to walk my dog as it's a lovely area with plenty of poo bins, sadly a rarity these days... Spotted the sign and was a bit confused and felt worried that when I came back from the dog walk a resident would come out and tell me off (I didn't park in the one with the sign as I knew that would invite conflict, but I was left confused as to whether they were a CF or whether I was being an ignorant CF by parking on that road.

No other signage anywhere. Last time I parked there for a dog walk was over a year ago and there was no sign on that layby at all, so had no worry about parking.

You can see on google maps that there are areas which are clearly defined private parking areas with numbered spaces such as the one at the start of Gandy Way by the roundabout. But not the layby type areas.

I see! I think this could be the case here then. I think this estate has been established a while, but there are other developments in the area so I'm wondering if the estate management company still have responsibility for this one (whether it makes a difference?).

Maybe I'll avoid parking there again for a while lest a very British passive-aggressive note be left on my car 😂

Like this

That means there is estate charges for the road so not adopted and is privately owned