Parking permit zones will be introduced more quickly under a three-year plan set out by Barnet Council.

The council will use experimental traffic orders to introduce controlled parking zones (CPZs) across the borough, meaning it will not need to carry out a statutory consultation before they are rolled out.

Following an informal consultation with residents, the orders will be used to introduce the permit zones for a period up to 18 months. This means changes can be made before the zones are made permanent or removed.

Controlled parking zones allow permit holders such as residents and businesses to park within certain areas but exclude other drivers within a set timeframe.

The changes to the CPZ policy were agreed at a meeting of the environment committee on Monday.

Speaking at the meeting, Labour environment spokesman Cllr Alan Schneiderman (Woodhouse) asked what the difference was between an informal consultation and a statutory consultation.

Committee chairman Cllr Dean Cohen (Conservative, Golders Green) said: “Providing (residents) have responded to the informal consultation, there is no difference, because it just means (the CPZ) will be put in quicker and reviewed quicker.

“Previously, what has happened is there has been an informal consultation, then there has been a gap, then there has been a statutory consultation, then a gap, and then hopefully you might get it implemented – by which time, potentially, the original discussion will have moved on a bit.

“Ultimately, this would speed up (the introduction of CPZs), and there will be no impact on residents, because that’s what they asked for and what the response was as part of the informal consultation.”

The CPZ programme comes in response to “unmet demand for new areas covered by CPZ controls and best practice review of existing controls”, according to a council report. This has led to a backlog of areas waiting for consideration.

Under further questioning from Cllr Laithe Jajeh (Conservative, Hale), head of parking and infrastructure Phillip Hoare said the “functional consultation” is the informal consultation – “where you go out with plans that people can comment on, suggested hours, who is going to be included and who is not”.

“To all intents and purposes, this lets us focus much more on that engagement with members of the public and ward members, which then allows us to deliver the CPZs,” he explained.

“What it additionally provides for is that the up-to-18-month period, once that has been put in place on the ground and people are much more able to engage with what is there and working in practice for them, that can allow for much easier amendments.

“At the end of it, it will still have met all the legal requirements that the council is obliged to meet.”

Cllr Schneiderman put forward an amendment to ensure “a single, borough-wide CPZ will not be imposed on residents, and that the need for local residents, businesses and road safety must remain paramount, rather than financial considerations”.

Committee members unanimously agreed the report’s recommendations, as amended by Cllr Schneiderman.