Drivers fill a cash gap

Published: 12th December, 2010

• THE time-honoured phrase, “They would say that, wouldn’t they?”, springs to mind when Islington Council gives its reasons for the proposed price hikes of 50-100 per cent for parking permits. It says that this is being done not to raise money but to protect the environment by reducing traffic volumes and to “make parking fairer” (whatever that means).

I don’t think anyone believes this, and a more plausible explanation is that it is running a large deficit on parking services which needs to be made up; for it is not allowed to use parking charges to fund general council expenditure. 

It does seem a remarkable coincidence that, at a time when councils’ finances are being squeezed like never before, traffic levels in Islington have suddenly become a major problem.

Cars these days are much leaner and cleaner with lower CO2 emissions. Because of this, the council’s policy of basing the cost of parking permits on these emissions probably means its income from the sale of permits is now on a downward slope. Since I changed my car recently, my residents’ parking permit has gone down from £150 to £85, although it has the same size engine as before. The council is also evidently raking in less money from parking fines these days.

The council should stop making out it is the saviour of the planet and instead come clean on the real reasons for these enormous price hikes.
Danny Michelson
La Fromagerie
Highbury Park, N5