New tax? Resident parking permits pricing could be linked to emissions
Gas-guzzling 4x4s and even the smaller Mini could cost their owners dear by the end of the year - if an emissions-based parking permit system is approved.
Following the lead of Richmond and Hillingdon councils, Sutton could impose a charging system for residents in its controlled parking zones.
The costs of resident permits, which are all one price at the moment, could be linked to engine sizes.
"We want to do something that's fair to people but that will also make them think about the impact they're having on the planet," Councillor Colin Hall, the council's environment boss, said.
Coun Hall, who does not own a car, said the idea to introduce the system - which could mean discounted rates for fuel efficient cars but sky-high rates to park cars with more substantial engines - was conceived in anticipation of Ken Livingstone being re-elected as Mayor of London.
"It isn't a mayoral directive as yet, but if Ken is re-elected no doubt it soon will be," Coun Hall added.
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"We want to do something that's fair to people but that will also make them think about the impact they're having on the planet."
Councillor Colin Hall
The plan is in its early stages, with council officers still in the process of compiling reports and recommendations.
The move will take on the unusual process of being submitted first to the council's scrutiny committee before being approved by its executive.
Coun Hall added: "For something as emotive as emissions-based parking permits we would like to be sure we do it right and that we hear what the public think about it.
"The process will be very open and we hope members of the public will talk to us about it, as well as the parking user panel."
Councillor Paul Scully, opposition leader at the council, who drives a Vauxhall Zafira, has spoken against this kind of system before.
Writing in 2006 when Richmond introduced its version of the scheme, Coun Scully said: "It is hard to see this being more than a money-making exercise rather than a green initiative."
He also expressed concerns that once installed, such a system may be subject to increasingly hiked-up charges for parking.
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