Northern Beaches Council will digitise all parking permits over the next year, ending the notorious “pen black market” where residents secretly sell surplus stickers online.
The new system will no longer involve placing stickers on cars, but will instead link user’s permits to the registration of their vehicle.
This will apply to both the area specific permits and the general Northern Beaches Parking Permits which allow free parking across many beach-front locations.
The shift will roll out 250,0000 permits throughout Northern Beaches incrementally over the next 12 months. The smaller permit schemes such as Western Foreshore, Church Point, Rowland Reserve, and Illuka Reserve will be implemented first on 1 November 2025. From 1 December, about 4,500 permits will be released to particular groups such as surf clubs, Lakeside caravan park, independent living, charity organisations and schools.
Permits which are set to expire in these areas will be valid until up until the digital distribution dates go live.
The larger Manly and Beach parking permit schemes are expected to go digital in mid to late 2026. This means if you have a Manly 2025 residential parking sticker set to expire in a month, a 2026 sticker will still be available to collect by normal means. 2026 beach parking permit stickers will also be distributed with this year’s rates.
And for those renters wondering, Landlords will be able to nominate their tenants vehicles for the permit. Anyone applying for the permits will be able to do so via a web portal – not yet established – by creating a user account.
Northern Beaches Mayor Sue Heins says digitising permits not only allows for a streamlined service, but also eliminates any issues associated with the physical stickers.
“The move to digital permits will provide for more simple and effective management,” Mayor Heins said.
“The new system will mean no more lost or damaged stickers, no more issues with sticker adhesives, no more misuse of permits and a cost saving for ratepayers.
“This is a large undertaking, and the staged approach will support a streamlined process to the new system.”
The new digitisation system will render manufacturing and distribution costs associated with stickers redundant, saving ratepayers approximately $75,000 per annum. But, it will no longer allow for any advantageous ‘black marketers’ to make a quick buck.
The pen black market is a well known community among Facebook Marketplace shoppers. Each rate payer is given two beach parking permit stickers each year, but not everyone needs them. Some who fall into this category sell their sticker surplus online, but advertised as a pen.
This is done as selling or redistributing permits, for the most part, is a legal no no – putting the sale advert under the guise of a pen allows for a sneakier transaction. Alas, with the new digital system scrapping stickers, it may be the end of an era for the black market trade – But never, say never.
“Supposedly, who knows?” Mayor Heins jested to Manly Observer when asked if the new system meant the end of the pen black market, “Doesn’t everyone like a challenge of a loophole to find?”
Loophole or not, a new era of accessible parking permits may be upon us. In May, Council released its updated Beach Parking Permit Policy, outlining the expectation for landlords to hand over at least one of their excess beach parking permits to their renters.
Although this was an expectation, it wasn’t enforceable due to difficulties tracking what landlords do with their permit stickers once they were distributed. However, now that stickers are out and digitally linked permits to vehicle registrations are in, the ask may be possible to enforce.
Northern Beaches Councillor Kristyn Glanville, who was a key advocator of the permit-landlord sharing policy told Manly Observer she’d like to see it become an obligation.
“I would like to see that obligation becoming part of the policy. The challenge with the stickers is that enforcing any requirement would be challenging, but in my personal opinion this is likely to be easier under digital permits. The policy would need to change from encouraging to requiring, which would require the councillors to resolve that. It would also probably need the staff to specifically look at the technology side,” she said.
Not everyone shares this view, Mayor Heins believes it shouldn’t be up to legislation to determine what property owners do with their permits.
“I think that should be still up to the decision of the land owner about where they want to put those stickers, that’s part of the value of owning property on the Northern Beaches,” she said.
“I see a landlord that shares their parking access with their tenants as generous, but I’m also aware that some people aren’t as generous. Well, do we legislate against that? I don’t know if I necessarily agree with that.”
The accessibility of beach parking permits could also expand beyond the scope of Northern Beaches residents. The State Government’s own Permit Parking Guidelines (PPG) draft – still under consultation – looks to give parking permit access to non-residents of the LGA. This comes after NSW Roads Minister John Graham blindsided Mayors earlier this year, demanding beach Councils create a equal sticker system for all.
“The principle we would like to apply is that regardless of whether you rent or own, you pay a similar amount for these [beach parking stickers] or you have the same access to the scheme. That’s what we’re asking councils to consider,” Mr Graham said.
Mayor Heins said since the announcement, neither Mosman Mayor Ann Marie Kimber, nor herself have heard from the Roads Minister on the matter.
The State’s PPG draft has been met with some reservations with Northern Beaches Councillors agreeing parking on the Northern Beaches is already chock-a-block without everyone having a pass for all day parking.
“A problem with a lot of the State Governments rhetoric is basically they were kind of the Oprah approach; you get a permit, you get a permit, everyone gets a permit!” Cr Glanville said.
“They have to have some sort of price signal to discourage an infinite number of permits being issued because we don’t have an infinite number of parking spots.”
“Even with our own current residents that we’ve got, that we’ve got, you know, only a finite amount of parking spaces,” Mayor Heins shared.
“Obviously it’s first in best dressed, which then means do we need to have more parking spaces with technology on it, so that you could look online, as there currently is, to see if there’s a certain amount of parking spaces or not? I don’t know. I mean, I just wonder where it all leads.”
Communications on how the beach parking permit rollout will unfold are still ongoing and subject to change, according to Council. More updates to come.
