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South Tyneside Council may create a new tier of “green taxes”

South Tyneside Council is busy running out a programme of consultations over it’s Permit Parking Policy. This essentially to deal with those small areas where locals are demanding a residents only parking scheme because they cannot get their own car (or visitor’s) anywhere near their own front door. In line with many other councils residents will be charged an annual fee for their parking permit and permits for visitors will also attract a charge, with a limit of 25 visitors per quarter! The matter is being discussed next Tuesday by the Riverside Community Area Forum in South Shields Town Hall.

I’ve got no big problem with the main thrust of the policy, and it isn’t way out of line with other local authorities, although one is not yet applying any charges at all, what worries me though is the small tract of text in the policy document which invites councillors to consider a system of charges based upon the CO2 emissions of the resident’s vehicles.

There are alternative methods for the introduction of charges, such as number of vehicles in the household or based on engine size and emission levels (in line with the road fund licence). The latter method could be seen as an incentive for encouraging residents to improve their carbon footprint.

Excuse me?

Haven’t motorists been attacked enough already by NuLabour?

Don’t they already have the pleasure of paying Road Fund Tax, and Vehicle Excise Duty, hasn’t this already led to a revolt in the House of Commons led by Blyth’s MP Ronnie Campbell? It’s not a “green tax” it’s a stealth tax” claimed Conservative Leader David Cameron, because it is applied retrospectively. In other words it cannot possibly encourage people to change the type of car they drive, particularly when the car was bought three, four, or five years ago and repayments are still being made. Such a charge would be no incentive at all.

Hit once by Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling and hammered again by Iain Malcolm and Michael Clare, residents who opt for these parking permit schemes will be left baffled, confused, angry, and annoyed that so called “green taxes” on their vehicle could possibly be levied twice by different bodies.

Raise a charge to cover the costs of the scheme by all means, but please keep it simple and don’t base it on the emissions of the vehicle, it’s already been taxed for that!

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