Parking permit fees to be linked to emissions

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Car Rental News - 12/02/2009

 

A levy on gas guzzlers in Edinburgh could be passed by next spring.

City councillors have approved a scheme that would link the cost of parking permits for residents to the size of their vehicle’s engine or its carbon emissions. The council’s go-ahead came after the plan received backing from a first public consultation.

In September, motorists will have another opportunity to make themselves heard in a statutory consultation on the scheme.

Under the terms of the plan, owners of gas-guzzling vehicles such as the Citroen C6 and the Land Rover would pay double their current £160 per year fee, meaning that the annual permit would cost £320. Drivers of vehicles causing the least amount of pollution, in the city’s outer zones, would see their fees reduced from £80 to just £15.

The fee for a second vehicle would also rise, up to £400 for vehicles causing the highest pollution levels. Results from the next consultation will be provided to councillors, for the final vote scheduled in February of 2010. It is unlikely that the scheme would be put in place until the following April.

Seventy-three per cent of those responding to the "Park Green" consultation were in favour of the proposal; and 68 per cent of residential parking permit holders supported the plan.

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