Claims to support new parking charges don't add up, says

Published on Thursday 24 July 2008 10:59

LET'S be frank. The city council proposals to charge owners of "gas-guzzlers" extra for parking permits are inept, but that's irrelevant.

CO2 features in transport debate only because it is the single large emission from petrol engines since catalytic converters were fitted to all new cars twelve years ago. Conversely and despite new, stiffer regulations, diesel engines still release significant particulate emissions – it's no coincidence that Princes Street's air quality is no better since access was restricted to buses and taxis.

CO2 is not a "pollutant"; it is an inert gas, essential for plants to convert back into oxygen. Plants thrive not because we talk to them but because we are breathing CO2 on them – more CO2 increases plant growth!

The Trotskyists among us believe people should be banned from having anything not publicly owned. They attack urban 4x4s but they really hate any car, ignoring people's varying needs – frequent night travel, long-distance journeys, large families, easy entry for disabled or elderly passengers.

They blame school-run mums in "big 4x4s", a view apparently supported by the reduction in traffic levels when schools are on holiday. But the missing traffic is not simply school runs. People take holidays during school holiday periods too.

But the fact is that parked cars make no emissions and don't contribute to congestion. So why penalise them?

And why double the cost of city residents' parking permits shortly after widening the net of controlled parking zones?

Simply, because councillors must pay a 3 million penalty next spring if they don't sign up to building the Granton spur tram line. And rather than face that embarrassment, they would prefer to divert tram funds to pay for it and subsidy has to be found somewhere. Drivers are seen as a soft target.

But drivers would sooner change politicians than their cars. We pay them to represent us, not to dictate to us. And less inept government would benefit us all.

Bruce Young is Lothian co-ordinator of the Association of British Drivers