Westminster has a cashless parking system that can prevent much of the NO2 poisoning that is killing 5900 Londoners a year.
That's why Hugh Small, our Secretary, wrote this letter to the Councillor responsible for car parking, suggesting an easy way for Westminster to stop people driving diesels to central London.
A week after he sent the letter, the VW diesel emissions cheating story became public.
Email: hugh@hugh-small.co.uk
That's why Hugh Small, our Secretary, wrote this letter to the Councillor responsible for car parking, suggesting an easy way for Westminster to stop people driving diesels to central London.
A week after he sent the letter, the VW diesel emissions cheating story became public.
Email: hugh@hugh-small.co.uk
14 September 2015
Cllr Heather Acton
Westminster City Hall
London SW1E 6QP
Dear Heather
Parking charges for highly-polluting vehicles in Westminster
I am writing to you in your capacity as Westminster Council Cabinet member for sustainability and parking. I want to show that you can achieve an immediate and significant reduction in premature death from air pollution in London by exploiting Westminster Council’s advanced parking system. I propose that you do so by increasing hourly parking charge for highly-polluting vehicles.
Two months ago Kings College London published a study which showed that 9400 people died as a result of air pollution in London in 2010, one in five of all deaths, doubling the previous estimate. Each premature death reduced life span by an average 12 years.
You can save many of these lives using Westminster’s parking system. Your parking bays require the vehicle registration number, and can tell whether the vehicle is diesel-powered. Older diesel vehicles are largely responsible for the poisonous NO2 gas which is causing most of the premature mortality. Cities in Germany have already banned such diesel vehicles from their centres, and other countries will follow suit. It is easier for us - by charging a premium on parking for highly-polluting vehicles Westminster can reduce the amount of traffic pollution without reducing revenues. Westminster’s efficient parking arrangements and unique attractions are indirectly responsible for much of London’s premature mortality. Your £80m p.a. parking revenue is evidence of this. You can publish figures on the effectiveness of the scheme to show that it saves lives and does not simply privilege the wealthy.
The NO2 pollution problem has been left untreated for so long that people may find it hard to believe that elected bodies have overlooked solutions like this one. The annual mortality is comparable to the one-off smog disaster of 1952-3, and the four-year delay after that in passing the Clean Air Act has often been criticised. In the case of NO2 we have procrastinated for 15 years. This may have been partly due to the perceived difficulty for the European authorities of enforcing the law. They clarified this last year by launching infringement proceedings against the UK Government and the Government in turn has said it may require ‘responsible authorities’ to pay the fines.
In April of this year the UK Supreme Court upheld the appeal of ClientEarth and ruled that the government must produce, before the end of 2015, a plan to reduce UK air pollution ‘as soon as possible’ to the safe levels that it should have achieved under EU law by 2010. The solutions being considered by the Mayor are unlikely to include the one that I propose, because his planners do not have in the front of their minds the local knowledge that we have about Westminster’s parking system. I doubt also that they have the power to make you charge more to park highly-polluting vehicles. That does not alter the fact that if Westminster does not use the powers already at its disposal it will certainly be a ‘responsible authority’ and will have to pass fines on to Westminster’s unfortunate residents.
I look forward to hearing that you will adopt this suggestion to save many lives before a wider ULEZ (which Westminster Council has asked for) can possibly produce similarly effective results.
Yours sincerely
Hugh Small
West Central London Green Party
Cllr Acton replied as follows. She says that it is "one of the measures mentioned in our Greener City Action Plan" but the only relevant mention in that document is to "Review our parking policies to encourage the adoption of less polluting vehicles" withing three years. That sounds like Kensington's imposition of a tiny (£16 annually) diesel surcharge on resident permits, which is not going to reduce pollution much. I assume that my suggestion is original.
From: Acton, Heather (Cllr)
Sent: 21 September 2015 10:18
To: Hugh Small
Cc: Pryse, Sion
Subject: Parking charges for polluting vehicles
Sent: 21 September 2015 10:18
To: Hugh Small
Cc: Pryse, Sion
Subject: Parking charges for polluting vehicles
Dear Hugh
Thanks for your letter of 14th Sept which is very timely
I am indeed looking at emissions based charging for vehicles and have a meeting with Council colleagues tonight
It is also one of the measures mentioned in our Greener City Action Plan. You will be receiving an invitation to the launch, but it is a breakfast meeting in Victoria on 19th October, so please mark your diary if you are free
You may also be pleased to hear I am holding a Roundtable on Air Quality at the Conservative Party conference
Kind regards
Heather Acton
Westminster City Councillor, Hyde Park Ward
Cabinet Member Sustainability and Parking