Ministers have made a new statutory instrument to update civil enforcement under Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004. Titled the Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (County of East Sussex) (Amendment), Bus Lane Contraventions (Approved Local Authorities) (Amendment) and Moving Traffic Contraventions Designation Order 2025, it was made on 11 November 2025, laid on 13 November 2025, and comes into force on 9 December 2025. The Order is signed for the Department for Transport by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Keir Mather.
For East Sussex, the instrument widens the county’s existing civil parking enforcement. It removes the long‑standing exclusion of the A21 trunk road section from the 1999 Hastings Order by amending article 3 to apply to “the whole of the Borough of Hastings”, and deletes carve‑outs in the 2004 Lewes Order so the district is covered in full. In effect, previously excluded roads in Hastings and Lewes now fall within the county’s civil enforcement area for parking contraventions and its special enforcement area.
The Order also amends the Bus Lane Contraventions (Approved Local Authorities) (England) Order 2005 to designate parts of Cambridgeshire as a civil enforcement area for bus lane contraventions. The designated bus lane areas mirror those already designated for parking enforcement, aligning with the July 2025 designation of Huntingdonshire as a civil and special enforcement area for parking. This enables Cambridgeshire to issue bus lane penalty charge notices using approved devices.
Separately, eight authorities are designated as civil enforcement areas for moving traffic contraventions: Brighton and Hove, Calderdale, Cornwall, Dorset, Kirklees, Knowsley, Milton Keynes and Slough. By law, each must fall within an area already designated for parking enforcement; the Order records that requirement and completes the designation step set out in paragraph 10 of Schedule 8 to the 2004 Act.
The Department for Transport notes that chief officers of Sussex Police, West Yorkshire Police, Devon and Cornwall Police, Dorset Police, Merseyside Police and Thames Valley Police were consulted before making the designations, consistent with Schedule 8 to the Traffic Management Act 2004. This mirrors the approach taken in previous national tranches of moving traffic designations since 2023.
For motorists, the immediate practical change from 9 December 2025 is that the eight named authorities will be able to issue civil penalties for contraventions such as banned turns, no‑entry restrictions and yellow box junctions, and Cambridgeshire will expand bus lane enforcement where designated. Enforcement outside London relies on certified camera “approved devices”, with penalties and processes set by the 2022 general regulations; appeals go to the independent Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
For East Sussex, the removal of exclusions means on‑street teams and camera assets can enforce restrictions on routes that were previously outside scope in Hastings and Lewes. Local traffic orders, signage and back‑office systems do not change automatically; authorities will still need to ensure restrictions are properly signed and that evidence capture is compliant with device certification rules.
For Cambridgeshire, bringing bus lanes in designated districts under the 2005 framework aligns bus priority enforcement with existing parking powers. Council guidance confirms the standard penalty framework and back‑office processes, including postal PCNs and discounted early payment. Practitioners should map any new bus lane coverage against the July 2025 parking designation for Huntingdonshire to avoid boundary inconsistencies.
Authorities are reminded that DfT statutory guidance expects a warning‑notice period for first offences at each new moving‑traffic camera site for six months from go‑live, before full PCN issuance begins. Maintaining accurate records of enforcement start dates and publishing site lists remain good practice for transparency and audit.
Process and governance are unchanged. The Act requires moving traffic areas to sit within pre‑existing parking civil enforcement areas and for evidence to be captured by approved devices; adjudication remains via the Traffic Penalty Tribunal outside London. The Order extends to England and Wales but applies operationally to authorities in England.