Calling all Islington Mums,
Have you received a mailing from Islington Council re cheaper parking for green cars.Is so,whatever your views ,please respond, the cut of for response is noon tomorrow.You can only respond if you use the code on your mailing piece- how democratic, basically stuffed if it is lost.
It is a leaflet asking residents to vote on whether the cost of a residents parking permit should depend on how much their car pollutes.Smaller cars with lower emissions will have the cost of parking permits reduced and larger cars will have the cost of their parking permits increased.e.g a car
with an engine size of 1.8litres will see its permit cost rise from £95 to £160.A car with an engine size of 2.5litres will see its permit cost rise from £95 to £200 .
An engine size of 1.8 litres will cover cars of a people carrier size such as the Vauxhall Zafira and any car pre 2001 will be categorised according to the size of its engine.
It is good to see the council addressing the energy issue but I do find the
way the proposed increase is wrapped up in an environmental message rather
cynical. Could this be a council funding policy disguised as an environmental policy ? There is no mention in the leaflet of what is going to happen to any extra funding that may arise from this policy.
In my opinion I also feel that this proposal will further penalise families
with small children (as they tend to have the larger cars).We are already
pretty much excluded from Londons transport system - with buses and the Underground being pretty impossible to use with a pushchair and young children.The cost of the congestion charge curtails access to Central and West London. With this proposal- everyday events which a car is used
for,such as a trip to the supermarket- or the sports centre- will be penalised as well. We are all responsible for our own families carbon footprint and the way we use our car- I feel we do not need to be further
taxed on the size of our car- just because we have young children, live in Islington and want to use the facilities which our taxes pay for.
The referendum has to be responded to by June 25th .Parking decisions can
sometimes be decided by inertia and lack of response.The (8-6.30)parking controls in
St. George's Ward (W Zone) went thru on only 18% of the ward responding,whilst the 10-12 parking controls in Junction Ward(U zone), were obtained because people were motivated and responded - so whatever your views, please engage in the debate and respond.