The council approved a ten year City Parking Plan in October 2025, and the terraced inner-city areas where so many moves happen are first in line for new permit zones. This guide covers what the plan changes, how a removal van can legally stand on a restricted street, the rules for loading on yellow lines, and the bus gates and closures to plan around.
The City Parking Plan
Cardiff Council's Cabinet approved the City Parking Plan on 16 October 2025, a ten year strategy that splits the city into three parking management areas: the City and Civic Centre, the Inner area and the Outer area. The council says the inner-city areas with a high density of terraced housing and restricted street parking come first for new zones, naming Cathays, Plasnewydd, Riverside, Adamsdown and Grangetown.
The zones arrive in phases. Each one needs a traffic regulation order, which the council says can take up to 18 months, so the rules on a street in Cathays or Adamsdown can change between the day you book and the day you move. Read the signs in the week of the move. The plan is set out in the council's City Parking Plan announcement.
Visitor Permits and Vans
Under the plan, residents will be able to get daily visitor permits as well as hourly ones, with a limit on how many can be used. A weight surcharge will apply to permits for vehicles over 2,400kg, and vehicles over 3,500kg will still not be eligible for a permit at all. The council also says a permit does not guarantee a space.
There will be a tradesperson permit on an hourly pay-as-you-go basis, but the council describes it for trades such as electricians, plumbers, kitchen and bathroom fitters and landscape gardeners. It does not name removal firms, so do not assume a removal van qualifies. If you hold visitor permits, ask the council whether one can cover the van before you rely on it.
Suspended Bays and Dispensations
The Welsh Government's guidance to councils on parking enforcement recognises the problem directly. It says that in certain circumstances vehicles have to park where they cannot comply with the rules, giving removal vehicles and scaffolding lorries as examples, and that councils should issue special waivers, or dispensations, so they can park without enforcement action.
It also says a council's traffic orders may let certain vehicles park in a suspended bay, naming vans for furniture removals, but that such exemptions are a matter for each council. Cardiff's own process and fee for a suspension or a dispensation are on the council's website. Apply before you fix the date, because parking in a suspended place without permission is itself a contravention.
Loading on Yellow Lines
The same guidance says orders that restrict waiting usually exempt loading and unloading, though the detail depends on the order. Loading has to be continuous while the vehicle is parked, and it includes carrying goods into the property to where they are needed. Once the job is done, the vehicle has to move. Where loading itself is banned or restricted, that has to be shown by signs and road markings.
Wardens may watch a vehicle for a while before deciding it is not loading, and the guidance is clear that an observation period is not a grace period. For a move, that means a van can usually load on a yellow line where there is no loading ban, as long as somebody is carrying the whole time, which is one reason a house move on a restricted street goes better with two people than one. It cannot sit there while everyone stops for a tea break. The rules are in the Welsh Government's civil parking enforcement guidance.
Bus Gates in the City Centre
Westgate Street has been closed as a through route since October 2021 to everything except buses, taxis, cyclists and pedestrians. It is enforced by camera, and the council said at the time that drivers would be liable to a £75 penalty charge. A removal van is not exempt.
Castle Street is being rebuilt. The main works started on 23 February 2026 and are expected to take around 52 weeks, with the road kept open in both directions except during resurfacing and the bus lane extended. A move to a city centre flat in 2026 or early 2027 needs a route checked in the week, not one remembered from last year.
Match Days
Big events at the Principality Stadium close the centre. For the 2026 Autumn Internationals the council is closing Scott Road and Park Street from 7am on each event day, with full city centre closures from 12.30pm to 9pm on Saturday 7 November, 10am to 6.15pm on Saturday 14 November and 4pm to midnight on Saturday 21 November, covering roads including Kingsway, Castle Street, High Street, St Mary Street, Westgate Street and Wood Street.
A city centre or Riverside move on a match day is best moved to another day. If it cannot be, it has to be finished before the closures start.
Keep the Van Off the Pavement
There is no general pavement parking offence in Wales yet. When Cardiff ran a pilot on City Road in 2021, the council explained that outside London and Scotland it is not illegal to park on a pavement without a specific order unless the vehicle causes an obstruction, which only the police can enforce. In the Senedd on 11 February 2026 the Welsh Government said it endorsed giving councils powers against pavement parking and was in discussions with the UK Government on how that could apply in Wales.
None of that makes a van on the pavement a good idea on a terraced street, where it blocks prams and wheelchairs and gets a door knocked on. When you book a man and van with us, we plan to stand in the road.
Parking Checklist
- 1Check the signs on both streets in the week of the move.
- 2If either street is in a permit zone, ask the council about a dispensation or a suspended bay before you fix the date.
- 3Ask the council whether your visitor permit can cover the van.
- 4Avoid match days for a city centre or Riverside move.
- 5Allow for the Castle Street works and the Westgate Street bus gate on a city centre route.
- 6Give us the street at both ends so we can plan where the van stands.
Last checked: October 2026.