Parking consultation
Consultation information: Air Quality Update to Parking Policies and Procedures
Addressing poor air quality, the climate emergency and emissions from vehicles is at the heart of a set of ambitious parking proposals Newham Council is seeking to introduce.
The parking proposals are aimed at encouraging residents to switch towards less polluting vehicles and to encourage more local trips to be made by sustainable modes of transport.
Last year, the Council declared a climate emergency and published a 25-point action plan to address the challenges of poor air quality in the borough, including measures to reduce the amount of pollution created by vehicles.
Emissions from vehicles are the major contributor to the Borough’s poor air quality and parking policies and procedures have the ability to influence the number, type and the use of vehicles in an area and can be an important tool in delivering behavioural change and air quality improvement.
The Council’s parking policies do not currently meet air quality or public health objectives and have not been reviewed since 2012.
The Mayor of London has also, through the Mayor’s Transport Strategy, set targets for Newham to reduce the number of vehicle kilometres driven and car ownership in the borough (a reduction of 15% and of 10,000 vehicles by 2041.)
Following a series of focus groups and consultation with residents and businesses, a new set of parking policies has been developed to improve our poor air quality and encourage behaviour change.
The proposals were approved by Cabinet in February 2020 and we are now seeking your views on implementation of the parking proposals.
The parking policy aims to:
- Incentivise Cleaner Vehicles: encouraging residents to switch to less polluting vehicles by introducing differential residential and business parking permit charges, based on the vehicle’s emissions.
- Promote Lower Car Ownership: increasing parking permit charges for multiple vehicles registered at a single address, with every household vehicle now being subject to an emission-based charge.
- Improve Sustainable and Active Travel: encouraging walking, cycling or public transport for local trips by increasing existing parking charges (both on street and off-street), and making cleaner and healthier travel a more attractive option
What is being proposed
As part of a wide-ranging review of parking in the borough the Council is proposing:
Emissions-based vehicle charging bands for residential permits (based on DVLA groupings used by HMRC for vehicle taxation)
Newham is one of only two out of 33 London Boroughs which currently does not apply a charge for the first residential permit, with all our neighbouring boroughs already applying a charge. The table below shows the proposed emission tiers and the proposed new charges for residential parking permits.
| HMRC Band | CO2 emissions (g/km) |
Engine size (c.c.) (Pre-2001) |
Newham Emission Tier |
Example Car Models |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 0 | 1-600 |
Tier 1 (Free) |
All battery electric vehicles eg Nissan Leaf, Tesla models, BMW I models, VW e-Golf, and some hybrids eg Passat Hybrid, Mercedes C/E 330e models,Toyota Prius Plug in |
| B | 1-50 | 601-900 | ||
| C | 51-75 | 901-1000 |
Tier 2 (£60) |
Most hybrid models, eg Toyota Prius, Yaris & Auris, Range Rover PHEV and most small petrol and diesel vehicles, eg Ford Fiesta, Focus (newer models), Vauxhall Corsa, Astra, Kia Ceed, Peugeot 308, Renault Megane, Clio, BMW 1 series etc |
| D | 76-90 | 1101-1200 | ||
| E | 91-100 | 1201-1300 | ||
| F | 101-110 | 1301-1399 | ||
| G | 111-130 | 1400-1500 |
Tier 3 (£100) |
Audi A2,3,4 & 5, BMW 2, 3 4 series (smaller engines), Ford Focus 2.0, Mondeo, Mercedes A, C, E class (newer 180d, 200d and 220d models), VW Golf, Jetta, Hyundai i30, Kona, Seat Leon, Ibiza, Citroen C3, C4, Berlingo, etc |
| H | 131-150 | 1501-1650 | ||
| I | 151-170 | 1651-1850 | ||
| J | 171-190 | 1851-2100 |
Tier 4 (£150) |
BMW 2,3,4 series, X2,X3,X4,X5, VW Touareg, Tiguain, Audi Q7, Q8, Porsche 911, Cayenne, Land Rover Range Rover & Discovery (sport models). Mercedes E350, GLC |
| K | 191-225 | 2101-2500 | ||
| L | 226-255 | 2501-2750 |
Tier 5 (£200) |
Jaguar FType V6, Jeep Wrangler 2.8, Mitsubishi Shogun 3.2, Mercedes AMG 63 models, Bentley models, Rolls Royce models, Ferrari models, Maserati models |
| M | Over 255 | 2751 and above |
These charges have been set very carefully, so as to both encourage people to purchase less polluting vehicles and take into account the socio-economic characteristics of our residents. The proposed charges are in the bottom 50% of London Boroughs, with significantly higher charges applied in other authorities.
The maximum vehicle charge for the most polluting vehicles will still be only £200 (£16.67/month or £3.85/week) which is considered reasonable and affordable.
The Mayor of London has additionally introduced a £25m scrappage scheme for low income residents to encourage a move towards greener vehicles.
The Council estimates that the largest group of vehicles (almost 23,000) registered in the borough will be liable for a modest residential permit charge of £60 per year.
For households with multiple vehicles the total cost of permits will be the permit emission tier charge for each household vehicle, plus additional vehicle supplementary charges of £100 for the 2nd vehicle and £200 for the 3rd or any additional vehicles registered at an address in the borough.
For example:
- A household with two cars will pay the emission charge for the first vehicle and an emission charge for the second vehicle, plus the additional vehicle supplement of £100
- A household with three cars will pay the emission charge for each of the three vehicles, plus the additional vehicle supplement of £100 for the second vehicle and £200 for the third vehicle
Free first permit for electric and most plug-in hybrid vehicles
A free permit is retained for all vehicles with CO2 emissions less than 50g/km, which includes all fully electric and most newer plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Government grants for new electric vehicles are also available and similar assistance will be provided to those residents who wish to apply. The Council will also be delivering a network of residential electric vehicle charging points for those residents without off-street parking. A total of 40 double medium-fast charging units (capable of charging 80 vehicles) will be delivered across the Borough by April 2020. A further 40 double chargers and a number of ultra-rapid chargers will follow later in 2020.
Changes to business permit charges
Business permit charges will become emission based, with zero and hybrid emissions vehicles receiving free business permits and new charges introduced for three further emission tiers.
The Mayor of London has additionally introduced a £23m van scrappage scheme for micro and small businesses, and the Council intends to help connect businesses in the Borough to this opportunity and assist with their applications through the Economic Regeneration Team.
On and off-street parking charges
On and off-street parking charges will increase by 15 per cent across the board, in line with retail price inflation from 2012 (since the last charge review).
Borough-wide cashless parking
There are also plans to modernise Newham’s parking service by moving towards a fully cashless system. This will mean the removal of the remaining of pay and display parking machines and the introduction of a paperless pay-by-phone App system across the borough supplemented by over 150 pay point locations in retailers and other locations.
Introduction of the Newham Parking wallet
A new on-line system will also allow for the replacement of paper resident and visitor permits with ‘virtual parking wallets’ and ‘parking credits’ for residents. Parking wallets contain an allocation of parking credits which residents will be able to use for free parking in town centres and for other important family or social trips.
The Council is additionally proposing to implement:
- A ‘Fairer Enforcement’ policy to ensure resident vehicles are not removed except in exceptional circumstances.
- Removals on London Stadium and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park event days to ensure the safety of residents, businesses and visitors and in order to minimise highway impacts in the wider area
- A review of resident parking zones
Newham Parking Policy
The parking policy aims to improve air quality in the Borough by differentiating between the pollution generated by different vehicle types. It also seeks to discourage multi-vehicle ownership in single households and dissuade car trips for shorter journeys that could easily be made by other modes.
To ensure the economic vitality of town centres and to support local businesses, the policy also seeks to provide parking opportunities for Borough residents in local centres and shopping areas. It also seeks to provide adequately for visitors, including carers, health visitors, medicine deliveries and other socially essential trips.
Read the February 2020 cabinet paper
Consultation update:
The results of the informal public consultation carried out in March 2020 resulted in 4,832 responses.
There were a series of questions posed about the council’s parking policy proposals. The majority of responses were focussed on introduction of, or an increase in parking charges.
- 88.6% did not support the introduction of emissions-based permit parking charges to help improve air quality.
- 7.7% supported the introduction of emissions-based permit charges.
- 3.75% were undecided.
An overview of the consultation responses is available in this report.
The latest consultation results follow an earlier informal public consultation, comprised of Citizen’s Assembly events held in Spring 2019, which found:
- 62% wanted measures specifically introduced to significantly reduce car emissions in Newham.
- 67% of participants were unaware that children could become ill from breathing in car fumes;
- 65% supported the need to bring down Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) pollution emissions generally;
- 45% believed Newham would be a nicer place with less cars;
As a result of both informal consultations, the feedback shows that residents have concern about the number of vehicles and the air quality in Newham, but when confronted with the actual measures to address they are less likely to want to support taking action.
Cars are a large contributor to the poor air quality in Newham and it is necessary and appropriate that measures are adopted that use financial incentives to encourage people to change the way they travel around the borough using greener travel options, walking and cycling.
The council launched a statutory consultation in July, 2020 which has now closed.
