At the General Assembly in May, we received several queries related to the car parking system at the East Midlands campus and wanted to ensure we were able to answer these and provide a general update to staff. 

Overall, we are pleased with the progress to date. More than 3,000 staff have registered for the autopay option and are now only paying for their exact usage. There are 4,599 staff with live accounts and additionally, over 100 campus partners are using the system. There are approximately 535 student accounts.  

We have seen significant improvements, particularly regarding poor parking on campus and the surrounding roads of campus, which has resulted in fewer warnings and fines being issued. It has also increased the security of our campus and helped to ensure that emergency vehicles are able to access buildings by enforcing parking charge notices to vehicles parked inappropriately (eg outside of a bay or blocking roads/access points).   

We are aware of some parking challenges during term time on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, particularly on the East side of campus where there is a high concentration of staff alongside high visitor demand (such as patient parking at NCSEM and those using our sports facilities). To reduce the burden on staff on these days, we have made changes to the Creative Arts site to help staff and permitted students, and we are working through other solutions for the busier car parks. We would like to remind staff that there are spaces regularly available in the Central and West car parks on campus if they struggle to find space close to the building in which they are based. Loughborough University took over the ownership of the Students’ Union car park in April 2024, so this space is now included in the APCOA system and therefore available for staff to use.  

Over the summer, we plan to change the following entrances to be accessible for staff and permit holders (this includes Campus Partners and any exemptions) only: 

• Spinney Hill Drive 

• Ashleigh Drive 

• Dual carriageway off Ashby Road (by the Multi-Storey Car Park)  

Visitor lanes will be re-established at the East and West entrances of campus and will be managed by the Security team. 

Sustainability and car parking 

The implementation of the new car parking system is not expected to have an impact on our carbon emissions. Many of the cars entering campus would have previously travelled here before the new system, but some may have parked on surrounding roads instead. The new system will help us to better track our carbon emissions so we can make informed decisions on how we may reduce them.  

We have recently run travel surveys for staff and students to better understand the barriers and issues our University community faces in using sustainable modes of transport. The data collected from the survey will help us to develop our new Sustainability Travel Plan, which we hope to launch next year. The findings from the survey show that around 90% of students are using sustainable modes to and on campus eg walking, cycling or catching the bus. We have always welcomed students to bring vehicles onto campus who meet certain criteria and this remains the same to obtain a permit (which is capped). Other students may register their vehicle as a visitor.  

We continue to work closely with our partners to improve sustainable access to campus and its surrounding areas. 

For more information about car parking, please visit our website.