From the Daily Telegraph; Sobering reading…
Driveways, garages – even forecourts, if your car is small enough – could soon have more impact on the value of your home than a Smallbone kitchen or converted attic, following a dramatic swing in the way local councils across Britain are now milking the motorist.
It started three years ago when Richmond Borough Council in affluent south-west London announced plans to charge residents up to three times more for a parking permit if they had a bigger-engined car.
Few believed the scheme would be approved; the very idea that a council would levy a higher fee on a stationary car was preposterous according to motoring organisations.
Other observers believed it unlikely that local politicians would alienate voters by penalising bigger families – often those from ethnic minorities – who are forced to rely on bigger cars.
They were wrong on both counts and reckoned without the steely resolve of Richmond council. By April 2007 the west London authority had introduced the scheme to the outrage of many in the borough.
Overnight, the cost of parking – except for those with driveways – went from a maximum of £100 to £300, or a staggering £450 for a second vehicle.
Motorists who are tempted to shrug it off as the go-it-alone antics of a maverick London borough should think again, however. It was a middle-of-the road, Liberal Democrat-led borough that launched this particular assault on the motorist and now the concept is spreading fast.
Telegraph Motoring has found that a further eight out of London’s 33 borough authorities have introduced their own CO2-based plans, in many cases doubling the cost of a resident’s parking permit. And what happens in London today – road pricing, low emission zones, CCTV traffic enforcement – will appear on a street near you tomorrow.
Kelvin Reynolds, the director of operations and technical services at the British Parking Association, says it is “highly likely” that other councils across England and Wales will jump on the CO2 bandwagon.
“Pressure on councils is rising as car ownership grows. They cannot sit by and do nothing. Local authorities have a statutory duty to reduce emissions and to help the Government meet its CO2 obligations.”
Mr Reynolds, a former City of London transport official, added: “What councils can’t do is use parking control to raise revenue – that would be illegal. It has to be to do with managing traffic.”
The AA is unsure about the way the law is being interpreted however. “Under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 councils can do almost what they like in terms of parking control; they must consult but they could, if they wanted, say that motorists must drive blue cars on Mondays and red ones on Tuesdays,” said the AA’s head of transport policy, Paul Watters. “They have considerable scope to write the rules and linking CO2 to parking charges comes under this.”
Watters says there could now be worse to come; councils are also keenly monitoring Richmond’s latest wheeze – an electronic card parking scheme that also hits “gas guzzlers”. It encourages drivers to register their cars online an, after providing their car’s CO2 details, they receive a pre-pay card which can be topped up and swiped at street and car park ticket machines in the borough.
Cars with emissions between 121g/km and 180g/km, including some Ford Focuses, pay 25 per cent less than base rates.
But owners of cars emitting more than 181g/km of CO2, such as some Ford Mondeos and many 4x4s, must pay 25 per cent above standard rates. It is estimated that the move could net the council an extra £800,000 a year.
“It is a brazen and monstrous attempt to boost revenue under the guise of being green,” says Watters. “Officials are giving themselves a pat on the back for being green, but it is ludicrous to penalise a vehicle on its emissions when the car is switched off.”
Critics point out that those forced to pay higher rates may use their car just once a week, perhaps for a family outing, or, even more rarely, if it is an expensive sports car, while their neighbour who pays considerably less for a smaller-engined hatchback creates far more CO2 by using their car on the daily commute.
CO2-based parking schemes are likely to damage more than motorists’ wealth, however; critics warn that if they spread they will lead to wholesale concreting-over of front gardens as residents dig out lawns and shrubs to avoid spiralling fees.
Relentless pressures however are forcing councils to act; spiralling car ownership means roadside parking spaces are filling up fast, forcing neighbour to compete with neighbour in the home-time dash for a space.
In 2009 there were 31 million cars in the UK but this is predicted to jump to 32.4m by 2015 and 36.1m by 2024. Some councils, such as Brighton, have instigated rationing; residents must now wait for spaces to become free before getting a permit.
Three years ago the waiting list for some zones in the seaside city peaked at two years; following a review it has been cut to a slightly less painful 10 months.
Other councils dabbling in CO2 controls either for pay-and-display car parks or at the roadside include Edinburgh (where one third of residents may have to pay more), Sheffield, Salford, Cambridge, Brighton, where owners of low-emissions cars get discounts, and Nottingham City which “can’t rule it out”.
But the prize for unfairly penalising motorists under so-called “environmental” concerns goes to Norwich City council, which gears permit costs to a car’s length: longer cars pay double because, says the council, “smaller cars produce fewer emissions”.
So if your car is under 3.92m long, you pay £16 a year, 3.92m to 4.45m is £22 and more than 4.45m will cost you £30. As our chart below shows, the idea that a car’s length directly equates to its CO2 emissions is a travesty.
We should beware all this, says the AA, which warns that “discounts” for the few are only a very short step from surcharges for the many. There’s even a premium on learning; park on campus at Exeter or Stirling and, their websites explain, your charges could be linked to your emissions.
There is however hope, if, like many, you object to the £55 billion motorists are already estimated to contribute to taxation. In a delicious triumph for drivers in Richmond on May 6, the Lib Dems at council level lost power to the Conservatives, who campaigned heavily against “fanatical hostility to the family car”, promising a reversal if they gained power.
“The unfair tax targets small homes with no drives and damages the environment by promoting paving of front gardens,” stated the Tories’ manifesto. Voters liked what they heard, and kicked the Lib Dems out of power.
The motorist has won the battle, if not the war. Other councils, take note.
You can avoid having to pay high London parking fees and fines and find free parking in London by using the Tube and our text service to find free parking near tube stations outside the congestion zone.
Simply text the word Parking and the name of a tube station OUTSIDE THE CONGESTION ZONE to 80039 and you’ll receive a text back giving you three locations near the tube, or the one closest to it on the same line.
