Council to consult on CO2 parking proposals

• THE council is to consult widely on its ground breaking proposals to extend CO2 related parking charges to all of its car parks and on street 'pay & display' parking bays.

The consultation is due to begin on Monday 16 February and will last for six weeks. During the exercise the council hopes to hear from as many people as possible both residents of the borough and people from elsewhere who visit Richmond upon Thames. Speaking about the consultation Cllr David Trigg, Cabinet Member for Traffic, Transport and Parking on Richmond Council said:

"We are keen to hear views from as many people as possible. These proposals will affect not only our residents but everyone who visits our borough by car and the majority will stand to benefit. Our initial residents' scheme was introduced in 2007 for environmental reasons. It aimed to get more people to think about how polluting their car was and to consider what they could do to change in the future. Our research, and the actions of other councils since then in following our lead, suggests this is working.

"By extending the scheme to all paid for council parking locations we believe the scheme will be both more effective and fairer - and once again we hope other authorities will choose to follow our lead. Everyone now needs to think about how polluting their vehicle is and this scheme will certainly help. The scheme would also introduce the Richmond Card, similar to the Oyster card but for parking payments. This new, convenient card would eliminate the need to keep coins in the glove box and by holding the car's registration details, enable the correct charge to be made based on the CO2 emissions of the car.

"We need to be very clear; this will cost some motorists more to park on our streets and in our car parks. But over 60% of drivers will be able to avoid any increase or even get a discount by using a Richmond Card or by paying via their mobile phone and our top charges will still be modest compared to other parts of London. Please let us have your views, either by writing to us or better still going to the council's website where a special link will appear on the front page from Monday 16 February."

The parking consultation will begin on Monday 16 February and run for 6 weeks up to 30 March 2009. To register your views on the Council's proposals, please email Parkingviews@richmond.gov.uk from Monday 16 February or write to: Parking Charges Consultation, Environment Directorate, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Civic Centre , 44 York Street, TW1 £BZ.

From the council website:

'Extension of CO2 parking charges: questions and answers and key points:

Summary of key points:

• These are proposals;

• Yet to go to Cabinet and out to consultation;

• Implemented by spring;

• Still deciding exactly how we will consult;

• 60% of residents - no change or reduction of 25%;

• Need to register - easy and only takes 5 minutes online;

• No change to residents or business permits;

• Continuation of parking policy launched in 2007 - but now more fair and effective.

FAQs:

• Why is the council doing this? In line with our pledge to put the environment at the heart of everything we do this is a continuation of the policy we introduced in 2007 to charge drivers of the most polluting cars more for residents parking permits.
• That encouraged motorists to consider driving less polluting cars but was limited to those living in CPZs. Now that technology permits we can apply the same principle to everyone who parks in our borough on council roads or property. It will be fairer and more effective.
• We fully hope and expect that other boroughs will follow our example as they did two years ago. When that happens it will to become even more effective at encouraging more people to think seriously about the cars they drive.
• Is this not just an additional tax on motorists? No - it is based on the principle that the polluter will pay more but over 60% of motorists will actually pay the same or qualify for a significant discount by registering either online or with their mobile telephone.
• What will any additional money raised be spent on? Should there be any additional money we will spend it on parking and transport infrastructure in the borough. We have not budgeted to make a surplus from this but like most other councils we are seeing revenue falling at present so any extra revenue generated would go towards supporting essential services.
• Will this harm local businesses? Tourism and visitors are hugely important to our local economy so we have this serious consideration. Richmond is a world class visitor destination. Even in our most expensive car park the maximum new charge will still be less than £2 per hour which is very modest compared to comparable central London destinations.
• How do you justify the increase in a credit crunch? Most motorists will be able to have no increase or pay less. Those who pay more will still be charged modestly in comparison to similar destinations around London. In short this policy will do a lot to encourage people to think about driving less polluting cars without being excessively punitive.
• How easy will it be to register? Registration can be done either online, or by mobile phone. Online registration will give the motorist a smart card similar to the Oyster card which can be pre-paid and is then presented to the reader in the parking machine. Mobile phone registration can also be done from anywhere a signal is available and allows the option of paying by mobile phone.. Both of these procedures will be easy to use and a period would be allowed before implementation to allow people to register in advance.
• How much does it cost to register? There will be a one off administration fee for online registration of £2.50. For mobile phone use there will be a charge of 20p each time the service is used.
• If the consultation is overwhelmingly against will the council still go ahead? As we did with the 2007 proposal we will consider people's views very carefully before final decisions are made..
• How successful has the first scheme been? The scheme has been very successful at raising awareness about the issues and the consultation at the time confirmed that motorists would consider changing to less polluting vehicles when changing them. It is still relatively early to see significant changes in behaviour and we expect that this scheme would further encourage this. However we recognise that the current financial climate, where new car sales are down, is a constraint.'

Related Links

• • Background information: Read the Environment Overview and Scrutiny report
• • Cllr David Williams explains the new parking proposals