Tories Slam Ealing Parking Permit Changes

Claiming it will lead to more commuter parking, increase air pollution and congestion.

Conservatives on Ealing Council have slammed controversial parking permit changes which have been given the go-ahead.

The new regime will see a sliding scale of permit costs based on the ratings determined in calculating vehicle excise duty.

In addition there will be a £50 surcharge for any diesel car manufactured before 2015 and not meeting the Euro 6 standard for emissions and the surcharge for additional cars in a single household has been increased.

There will be four pricing tiers based on CO2 emissions ranging from £50 to £125 plus an extra £50 for diesel cars below Euro 6 standard.

The discount for reduced hours CPZs will be decreased from £30 to £20. The Council will be waiving the £15 surcharge for registering a new vehicle for a permit and electric vehicles will receive a £20 discount.

The report by Ealing Council states that the average permit charge will increase by over 60% although they say this falls to 53% if you weight the changes by the number of permits currently sold in each price bracket.

The average permit charge in the borough will increase to £163 which the report says compares to £163 in neighbouring boroughs and £107 in ‘five other boroughs’. They believe that the increase in charge will result in a 13% decrease in the number of permits issued with motorists finding 'alternative' off-street parking or getting rid of their cars altogether.

On street and off street parking is also to be increased with on street parking in the centre of Ealing rising to £3 an hour and High Street areas such as Southall, West Ealing and Acton rising to £2 per hour. The Council say that the average rise across the borough is just 30p per hour.

Councillor Nigel Sumner, Conservative Spokesman said:

“Labour’s new Transport Strategy is a waste of a good tree.  The Strategy claims to want to incentivise walking, cycling and low emission vehicles; all good things.  But the Strategy failed to mention that Labour has given the green light to introduce and extend shared used bays to ALL RingoGo account holders and not just those with resident parking permits. 

In addition, they have made the price point so low, £4 daily, that it will be become a commuter haven, especially when Crossrail to Heathrow comes on board.  And in conjunction with the proposed ULEZ splitting the borough into two, it will make Ealing a 'Park and Ride' car park.

Residents however, will be hit with a 64% increase in the average cost of their parking permit (£98 to £161), for having the misfortune for owning an older diesel car, whilst commuters will be able to flock on mass for the cheapest parking in London at the expense of low income and vulnerable residents.

Only this Labour Council could believe that more cars and more congestion will lead to cleaner air."

The increase in permit charges is expected to bring in around half a million pound extra a year. Combined with the shared bays to be introduced and the increase in on-street and off-street parking charges the annual increase in revenue is estimated at £729,000.

13th June 2018