'Gas guzzlers' face higher parking charges

1.55.15pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 25th Oct 2006

Lib Dem run Richmond Council in London wants owners of gas-guzzling vehicles to pay more to park outside their homes. Residents with high-emission cars could pay £750 a year, compared with £200 now, but the greenest cars would be exempt.

The council hopes other authorities will be encouraged to follow its lead. "Climate change is the single greatest challenge facing the world today," said council leader Serge Lourie. "We can no longer bury our heads in the sand and pretend that it is not happening, or that dealing with it is up to somebody else. For too long, it has been seen as a problem that only central governments or international organisations could address. The truth is that we must all start acting now at local level."

If the plans are approved by the council's cabinet on November 6, the cost of parking the most polluting vehicles would rise from £100 to £300. Those with more than one car would have to pay 50% more for extra permits - thus a household owning two high-emissions cars could pay £300 for the first, and £450 for the second, or £750 in total.

Representatives, including Northgate Councillor Linda Seekings, at the Lib Dem conference in September approved plans to use new taxes on gas-guzzling cars and aviation to pay for income tax cuts. Sir Menzies Campbell said he wanted to focus on "taxing pollution, not people".