Look again at visitor permit plans

• WHILE I agree with many of the points made by Councillor Tom Simon in his attack on Camden’s new parking proposals (Camden Council needs to rethink its proposed changes to the parking charges, November 9) he has missed the very important issue of visitors’ permits, beyond rightly noting the adverse consequences of scrapping the simple-to-use scratch-card system.

Visitors’ permits are invariably purchased and paid for by residents often for visiting tradespeople, and professional visitors (for example, carers, nurses and doctors).

The issue was also ignored by your more recent correspondent David Reed, (There are simply too many cars, November 16).

For tradespeople Camden officers, on their recent webinar, suggested that they should themselves apply directly for a “trade permit” at £43.31 per day.

This, of course, is a grossly excessive level of “taxation” on top of the work actually being done at a property, and a considerable bureaucratic hassle for tradespeople unfamiliar with Camden’s websites.

In practice most residents themselves purchase more economical visitors’ permits for their visiting tradespeople, even if they are themselves non-motorists.

Typical tradespeople service customers in many boroughs across London (not just Camden) and cannot be bothered with – and don’t have time for – negotiating each council’s own and very different trade permit schemes and therefore hugely rely on their customers to organise permits for their visits.

Nor are tradespeople going to change in any hurry from a small or medium van that already meets ULEZ, ultra low emission zone, requirements to a new, even more expensive, one that meets Camden’s proposed uniquely high emissions requirements.

It is arrogant of Camden to suppose that it can, to any extent, control the van-buying behaviour of tradespeople not based in Camden, to change their van simply to meet Camden’s proposed excessively high Euro 6-plus standards, which are well in excess of what even ULEZ already requires.

The increase in visitor parking fees for the average tradesperson’s small/medium diesel van of four-plus years of age could be to as much as £20.57 per day, from the current flat charge of £8.79 per day.

How can such an increase to a daily charge be justified remembering that it is all of Camden residents that will potentially be having to regularly buy visitors’ permits for visiting tradespeople not just the minority of motoring households among them?

Camden Council may for its own “virtue-signalling” – and or fund-raising reasons – wish to continue to wage war on residents who “selfishly” decide that they still need a car, and continue to blatantly treat them as cash-cows; but please can Camden urgently reconsider the proposals for visitor permits, by retaining the current simple system, including scratch-cards, and increase their price by only the rate of inflation?

ERIC PEEL, NW6