Massive Increase in Ealing Parking Permit Charges Proposed

Average cost could increase by over 60% with diesel surcharge to be introduced

A new transport strategy to be presented to a meeting of Ealing Council next week is proposing significant increases in permit charges.

The new charging regime will see a sliding scale of permit costs based on the ratings determined in calculating vehicle excise duty, which results in all but the lowest rated cars seeing an increase. In addition there is a £50 surcharge for any diesel car manufactured before 2015 and not meeting the Euro 6 standard for emissions and the surcharge for additional cars in a single household has been increased.

There will be four pricing tiers based on CO2 emissions ranging from £50 to £125 plus an extra £50 for diesel cars below Euro 6 standard.

The discount for reduced hours CPZs will be decreased from £30 to £20. The Council will be waiving the £15 surcharge for registering a new vehicle for a permit and electric vehicles will receive a £20 discount.

The report by Ealing Council states that the average permit charge will increase by over 60% although they say this falls to 53% if you weight the changes by the number of permits currently sold in each price bracket.

The fee scale increases are likely to come as an additional welcome development for residents in CPZs which are subject to a proposal to make spaces not directly outside residential properties shared use. Many believe this will attract large scale commuter and holiday parking reducing the purpose of the CPZ which is likely to increase opposition to the significant rise in prices.

Ealing Council’s Transport Strategy report states that the current average permit price in the borough is £98. The standard CPZ charge is £83 but the average is increased by surcharges for cars registered to a single property.

Most permits in Ealing borough currently cost under £100 with only 745 permits (of over 27,000 permits currently issued in the borough) at a cost of £120 or more. This will rise to over 10,000 with some residents having to pay as much as £470 for their permit - but that would be only those buying a permit for a 7th car theoretically very few in number. .

The average permit charge in the borough will increase to £163 which the report says compares to £163 in neighbouring boroughs and £107 in ‘five other boroughs’. They believe that the increase in charge will result in a 13% decrease in the number of permits issued with motorists finding 'alternative' off-street parking or getting rid of their cars altogether.

On street and off street parking is also to be increased with on street parking in the centre of Ealing rising to £3 an hour and High Street areas such as Southall, West Ealing and Acton rising to £2 per hour. The Council say that the average rise across the borough is just 30p per hour.

There are relatively few on street parking bays in the Chiswick area of Ealing borough and because they are classified as an area where there is less demand parking charges will actually fall. However, it will still remain cheaper under the new system for a non-resident motorist to use RingGo to park in a shared bay in a residents’ parking zone.

The increase in permit charges is expected to bring in around half a million pound extra a year. Combined with the shared bays to be introduced and the increase in on-street and off-street parking charges the annual increase in revenue is estimated at £729,000. However the report warns that given the scale of the changes being made to the tariff structure it will be difficult to accurately predict motorist behaviour.

The report states that the new charge regimes including the shared use bays will be introduced in March 2019. However, the financial data given in the report shows expected revenue from the changes in the current financial year to rise by £729,000. We have asked the Council to clarify whether implementation is to take place immediately or if the information in the report is incorrect.

The deadline for submitting comments on the proposed shared bays in CPZs in the area is 11 June. You should email them to highwayServices@ealing.gov.uk quoting ORDER 4114 and include your postal address.

June 4 2018