Hounslow Council’s new rates aim to incentivise use of low emission cars
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The delayed introduction of new fee scales for parking looks set to come into effect shortly.
Hounslow Council has published two Traffic Management Orders for on street and off street parking rates which incentivise the use of low emission vehicles by raising the charge for all others. The new charges will see increases of around a third for up to 90% of motorists in the borough.
The changes which were originally due to be in place last April were postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak and the need to test the technology but a report to the council recommended the introduction in January this year. At the time it was thought that this would allow for trade to re-establish on the borough’s High Streets following lockdown. However, the new orders will come into effect on 15 February. We have asked the council if the new charges will be levied from that point and await a response.
Three bands of charging for parking will be introduced with a discount on current rates for zero emission vehicles, low emission vehicles paying the current rate and all other vehicles would pay a higher rate. For instance the charge for on street parking for two hours will rise from £4.80 to £6.40.
The discounted rates will only be available for parking using the Pay By Phone system which can determine which category your vehicle falls into based on its registration . Parking charges by Pay and Display will increase for all vehicles. These new charges will apply to sessional parking in on-street pay and display bays and in council-run car parks.
There will also be changes made to the charges for business parking permits which will increase the price for higher emission vehicles (anything above 100g CO2/km).
When the council originally made these proposals last year it set the qualification for the low emission tariff rate at 50g CO2/km which would have meant that hybrids such as the Toyota Prius would not have qualified and fewer than 5% of vehicles currently registered in the borough would have been eligible for lower parking charges. This was later increased to 75g and the council estimated that around 10% of vehicles will be in either the zero or low emission category. It believes that this number will rise as more people switch to lower emission vehicles.
Hounslow applied a diesel surcharge to residents permits in 2017 as well as offering discounts for cars with lower CO2 emissions.
The council says that pollution from road vehicles accounts for around a third of carbon dioxide emissions in London. In line with their declaration of a climate emergency they say they are committed to taking action to reduce carbon emissions wherever it has influence.
Cllr Sam Hearn, spokesperson on transport issues for the oppostion Conservative group said, "In other circumstances my Group might have been willing to support indicative but not punitive changes to parking charges that discriminate against the more polluting vehicles. However, in the situation that the economy is in, a nearly 10% reduction in GNP, such measures are to say the least undesirable. our council should be doing nothing that would damage the local economy either during the lockdown or until we know that a 'bounce-back' recovery is both sustained and visible on the borough's key shopping streets."
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February 12, 2021
