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4x4 owners face more green parking charges
By Laura Clout
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 21/07/2007

Drivers of high-emission vehicles could be charged more to use council car parks and parking meters.

Richmond council in south west London already has a sliding scale of charges for residential parking permits which penalises owners of gas guzzlers.

In future, residents and visitors could be charged for using meters and bays within the borough according to the size of their engine.

Although the scheme is still in the planning stage, if successfully introduced, other local authorities keen to boost their green credentials may follow suit.

A report in the Local Government Chronicle said Richmond residents will be required to register their car, then pay fees by mobile phone or pre-paid card.

Serge Lourie, the council leader, said the technology to enforce the scheme was not yet available, but he hoped the plan could encourage residents to choose greener cars.

He said: "We are considering it as a serious proposition and hope it will encourage people to choose less polluting vehicles. Our ambition is to become the greenest council in Britain. We are particularly looking at bringing in such a scheme for the owners of car park season tickets."

Parking meters with a direct link to the Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency could even see non-residents charged extra to park in the borough, he said.

He added: "The technology has not been developed to properly police the scheme at this stage, and we would not introduce anything without consulting people first."

Richmond was the first council to push through a £300 levy on parking permits for gas guzzlers earlier this year. Drivers with a car producing less than 100g of CO2 per km pay nothing.

The plans were approved by fewer than half the borough's residents in a vote, and sparked fierce debate around the country.

But other councils were quick to follow Richmond's lead. Hackney has increased permit charges from £80 to £207.50 a year for the cars with the highest level of emissions and five other boroughs are in the process of introducing similar schemes.

A spokesman for the Local Government Association said: "The measures in Richmond attracted a large amount of public support. I can't imagine they would extend the measures without a similar level of public backing."

The RAC Foundation, which has described some of the schemes as "revenue-raising dressed up in a green smokescreen", said it prefers incentives such as reduced parking rates for the greenest vehicles.

A spokesman said: "This scheme effectively hits people twice. They are already paying more for their parking permit, and then might have to may again to park elsewhere."

Drivers with a car producing less than 100g of CO2 per km pay nothing.

Well, there are a couple that fit that band but they are wholly electric cars only (even the Pious is >100g).

Well, there are a couple that fit that band but they are wholly electric cars only (even the Pious is >100g).

And what happens when, say 5-10 years down the line, average CO2 car emissions have dropped by 10%/20%/whatever?

They'll just lower the bands to ensure they still get their income.