Improving air quality – a parking consultation

Overview

We are consulting on proposed updates to our parking policy

Air pollution is causing a public health crisis in London, with thousands of Londoners dying prematurely each year from long term exposure to vehicle exhausts. We know this is also an inequalities issue too, with those living in the most deprived areas exposed to higher levels of pollutants.

Despite the fact that car ownership in Lewisham is amongst the lowest in the country (47% of households don’t have a vehicle at all), private motor vehicles are a significant source of air pollution in the borough. With this policy, we are endeavouring to balance ongoing car usage with protecting the health of residents and visitors to the borough.

We now have the opportunity to introduce measures that will help to improve our air quality. Having recently declared a climate emergency at Full Council, our proposals would ensure that low emission vehicle owners will see charges reduce, while those who own the most polluting vehicles will pay the most.

Travel within, and through, the borough is incredibly well served by public transport (buses, trains, DLR), and there are miles of cycle routes and quiet walkways around the borough, with more being developed and planned for. By encouraging car clubs (providing low emission vehicles) as well, we hope to further support and cater for those that only have an occasional need for a car.

Everybody in the borough is affected and it’s very important that you have your say. This is a parking policy, but we also want to hear from residents and visitors who don’t drive (through choice or otherwise) and would like to have cleaner, less polluted environment in which to live, work, visit, travel through and learn.

We'd like your views on these main policy proposals

There are six main proposals:

1. To introduce pollutant-based banded charging for parking permits.
2. To introduce a surcharge for diesel vehicles.
3. To provide 10 hours of free visitor parking credit to all households that currently have at least one paid annual resident parking permit.
4. To provide only mandatory, enforceable disabled parking bays
5. To amend the hourly pay and display rate for parking.
6. Changes to the Penalty Charge Notice bands in Lewisham.

You can read the full parking policy proposals by clicking the link below:

Proposed Review of Parking Charges

You can look up the proposed new cost for your parking permit here:

Permit Price Calculator

Why your views matter

We invite you to review and feedback on the proposals for the new parking policy. Please click the link below to complete the survey. 

As a “thank you” for completing the survey, you will be able to enter a prize draw to win a £50 Amazon voucher.

What happens next

Your feedback has been taken into consideration. Now the consultation has closed we will be collating all the feedback received and creating recommendations for any changes that may be relevant or needed to the Policy proposal before it is re-presented to the Council for approval and implementation.

Exact dates have not yet been confirmed for the post-consultation discussion of this policy. Once known, this will be updated in the schedule of meetings that can be found on our website: http://councilmeetings.lewisham.gov.uk