Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Council tackles 'Climate Change' with massive increase in parking charges!
Most people will know by now that Resident's Parking Permits have gone up. Based on your vehicle emissions most of us increase from £25 to £60.
********** Essential Services Permits **********
If you drive to work within Haringey and park within a CPZ or come from outside the borough you maybe relying on an Essential Services Permit. Teachers and nurses are a good example. For reasons of safety and because you probably have several bags of books to mark and a laptop (if you're a teacher) you take your car.
Till now you have paid £25 pa for the privilege. Not any more.
From April 1st your Essential Services Permit will cost you £300 - £600pa.
This will be based on your emissions. A 1300cc car will cost the owner £300 for a permit. Some vehicles will be charged £150pa but that probably only covers a Toyota Prius or a well behaved donkey.
Instead of weaning people onto higher charges by using a gradual increase the council have gone for the blunt instrument.
Why? Because there is a serious shortfall in central government funding to the council, oh and the borough wants to be the greenest borough in London.
Fine, but we do want our schools & hospitals to run properly. Taxing their staff out of the borough isn't a good idea.
When these rumours of higher parking charges started to circulate I contacted Gina, one of our local councillors. Here is a reply from the Head of Parking;
Dear Cllr Adamou
Thank you for your email raising concerns regarding the Essential Service Permit Scheme.
A new staff travel plan is being introduced across the council as part of our commitment to tackling climate change at a local level. The review of the Essential Service permit scheme [ESP] is an essential element of this and the revised scheme will be implemented alongside a number of other measures on 1 April 2008.
The scheme as it stands is not sustainable. Demand has grown in recent years, with additional services / organisations being issued with permits. This has resulted in the scheme expanding without appropriate consideration given to its impact on available parking spaces. As such we have undertaken a fundamental review of the scheme, which looked at the qualifying criteria, conditions of use and charges.
Schools will be considered on an individual business case basis. The factors that will be considered are operational needs, availability of car park space at the school or in the immediate area, and proximity to public transport facilities.
Details of the Staff Travel Plan are being communicated at present to all staff and I will be writing to all existing ESP holders very soon to notify them of changes to the scheme and invite them to reapply if they feel that they meet the new criteria. We are also arranging drop in sessions for staff and I hope to have the opportunity to speak directly with teachers about the changes.
The ESP charges have not been reviewed for several years and need to be brought in line with other permit charges. The new charges are higher and represent the value of the permit. The charges will also be based on CO2 emission bandings, and will range from £150 to £600 [charges for building maintenance differs slightly] depending on the banding.
I hope that this helpful and please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any further assistance.
regards
Ann Cunningham
Head of Parking Services
********** Essential Services Permits **********
If you drive to work within Haringey and park within a CPZ or come from outside the borough you maybe relying on an Essential Services Permit. Teachers and nurses are a good example. For reasons of safety and because you probably have several bags of books to mark and a laptop (if you're a teacher) you take your car.
Till now you have paid £25 pa for the privilege. Not any more.
From April 1st your Essential Services Permit will cost you £300 - £600pa.
This will be based on your emissions. A 1300cc car will cost the owner £300 for a permit. Some vehicles will be charged £150pa but that probably only covers a Toyota Prius or a well behaved donkey.
Instead of weaning people onto higher charges by using a gradual increase the council have gone for the blunt instrument.
Why? Because there is a serious shortfall in central government funding to the council, oh and the borough wants to be the greenest borough in London.
Fine, but we do want our schools & hospitals to run properly. Taxing their staff out of the borough isn't a good idea.
When these rumours of higher parking charges started to circulate I contacted Gina, one of our local councillors. Here is a reply from the Head of Parking;
Dear Cllr Adamou
Thank you for your email raising concerns regarding the Essential Service Permit Scheme.
A new staff travel plan is being introduced across the council as part of our commitment to tackling climate change at a local level. The review of the Essential Service permit scheme [ESP] is an essential element of this and the revised scheme will be implemented alongside a number of other measures on 1 April 2008.
The scheme as it stands is not sustainable. Demand has grown in recent years, with additional services / organisations being issued with permits. This has resulted in the scheme expanding without appropriate consideration given to its impact on available parking spaces. As such we have undertaken a fundamental review of the scheme, which looked at the qualifying criteria, conditions of use and charges.
Schools will be considered on an individual business case basis. The factors that will be considered are operational needs, availability of car park space at the school or in the immediate area, and proximity to public transport facilities.
Details of the Staff Travel Plan are being communicated at present to all staff and I will be writing to all existing ESP holders very soon to notify them of changes to the scheme and invite them to reapply if they feel that they meet the new criteria. We are also arranging drop in sessions for staff and I hope to have the opportunity to speak directly with teachers about the changes.
The ESP charges have not been reviewed for several years and need to be brought in line with other permit charges. The new charges are higher and represent the value of the permit. The charges will also be based on CO2 emission bandings, and will range from £150 to £600 [charges for building maintenance differs slightly] depending on the banding.
I hope that this helpful and please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any further assistance.
regards
Ann Cunningham
Head of Parking Services
Tags for Forum Posts: parking charges, penalty charge notices
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Birdy_Too on
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Tackling climate change at every level is required and I do commend a lot of authorities for the action being taken to rectify this.
As much as I support any traffic reducing measures I cannot help but the think that this is the council capitalising on a fashionable issue at present.
‘We’ have a camper van parked outside our house for weeks on end. We all use public transport / cycle / walk to nursery and work. My parking permit has gone up to £60 per year although I use it probably 10% of the guy opposite who uses his 1.3 every day and emits far more harmful gases.
We also use public transport to visit family up north only using the van when we have to take the dogs and/or train fares are so expensive
I don’t mind paying the extra for our holiday home (no flights there for the family) but the council seem to be rubbing their hands in glee with all this extra income in the name of climate change.
Some of the councils decisions are hypercritical to say the least; on one hand trying to squeeze as much money of us by introducing all these measures and on the other, relaxing CPZS on and around Green lanes actively encouraging traffic to the area.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Absolutely BT, I'm all for tackling CC but the council is taking the piss whacking up parking charges by 2400% !! That smacks of greed.
If they ring fence the money for investment into something like parks then I might start to understand their approach. But I bet it goes into the general pot so people end up feeling taxed to the hilt, pinned to the wall and ready to vote Labour out of office.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Ouch! I'm really sorry... you're right, they're hitting you with the wrong hammer.
You can own a Toyota Prius but if you drive it with your foot to the floor, as most people do in London, you'll produce as much CO2 as the next car. The trick is in driving gently in any car. This kind of tax is purely revenue generating, it may even encourage people to "get more use out of their cars". The only way you can "green" tax a car is by taxing the petrol it uses.
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OK, here's the link again;
http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/environment_and_transport/parking/...
Scroll down the linked page to the table. This shows the table a lot less fuzzy wuzzy. :)
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> This kind of tax is purely revenue generating, it may even encourage people to "get more use out of their cars".
Absolutely. You should be working for the council's Parking policy team because guess what; staff at a local school have already worked out that the parking fee comes out a little less than the cost of using public transport for a year. Hey the council's onto something here and I bet they've paid for an expensive consultant to work out this little trick. So, the council isn't serious about changing people's behaviour at all.
Btw, I walk to work so it doesn't affect me. I just don't like silly policy those only achievement is getting up people's noses!
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> Liz said: 'It would be like Las Ramblas in Barcelona'
Ah yes, very good example. Perfectly do-able then. Time to set up operation 'Grand Parade' then Liz. Hugh, myself and Peter were looking to set up a regular monthly drinks night anyway. What do think would be a good regular night? First Tue or first Thurs of the month for example?
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OK, someone else liked Tuesday as an option.
Let's see if we can get a few people for the first Tuesday in March, which is the 4th. I believe Peter is away but I know Hugh is up for it and I'm sure we could gather a few others from our little community. Spread the word!
Harringay Community's inaugural drinks: Tuesday March 4th @ The Salisbury :)
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