‘Parking charges have nothing to do with trying to reduce pollution’

• HAVE just received an email from Camden Council concerning the unacceptable, unjustifiable increases in residents’ parking permits.

It offers recipients of this email to examine the results of its consultation in meetings and scrutiny meetings and whatever else it thinks will justify its decision.

Few of us have the time or inclination to wade through pages of council-speak which many of us won’t understand in any case.

But the gist of it, from what I can make out, is what we all expected: the charges have nothing to do with trying to reduce pollution and everything to do with trying to make up for a shortfall in income.

My questions for the council are:

• Do all of their councillors agree to give up their cars or replace them for electric or low emission vehicles?

• Are they prepared to offer compensation to those on lower incomes, many of them elderly, who cannot afford to replace their cars and can ill afford these extortionate fees?

• Should there not be a way to measure mileage and penalise those in “offending” vehicles who drive more than, say, 10,000 miles a year more than those who do less than 5,000?

MARCIA MacLEOD
NW6