Croydon is set to take major strides in its journey to become London’s greenest borough with new proposals encouraging motorists to switch to environmentally-friendly vehicles.
Under the plans, drivers with the least polluting vehicles would be offered significant discounts for residential parking permits with some costing as little as £6.50 a year.
The emissions-based charging scheme would take account of how much CO2 a vehicle generates per kilometre to determine the permit cost, with an additional charge proposed for diesel vehicles.
To encourage the use of greener vehicles, the council also has ambitious plan to introduce 400 electric vehicle charging points across the borough.
A survey for the Local Implementation Plan in September 2018 found nearly three quarters of respondents were concerned about air quality in the borough.
Objections and points in support of the council’s proposals expressed as part of a recent public consultation on the scheme will be considered at next week’s Traffic Management Advisory Committee on Wednesday July 24.
If approved the emissions-based scheme would be introduced in stages. The first phase would see the scheme introduced for residents’ parking permits, with business and all other permits introduced from 2020.
A separate consultation around the on street changes and changes for parking in council-owned car parks would then take place at a later date.
“We are committed to making Croydon London’s greenest borough as we work to address the climate emergency the world faces.
“This scheme is part of a range of measures the council is looking at taking to help make the whole borough more sustainable and builds on our success over the past year.
“In this case, we are offering up to a 90% discount for parking permits for the lowest emission vehicles. We are working hard to make Croydon London’s greenest borough, and reducing air pollution is at the heart of that challenge.”
Councillor Stuart King, cabinet lead for environment and transport
