Parking permits shake-up is set to be in place by May 2010

Published on Monday 15 June 2009 10:02

NEW parking permits which penalise drivers of gas guzzlers could be in operation from May next year once the results of a public consultation are known.

The city council will write to Edinburgh's current permit holders later this year after it was argued a previous consultation did not go far enough.

The scheme will then go before councillors at May's transport committee meeting and could be brought into operation almost immediately.

Councillors have already given the green light for the scheme which will see the cost of residents' parking permits linked to CO2 emissions or engine size, after it won the backing of an initial public consultation.

Drivers will now have another chance to have their say on the proposals when a statutory consultation on the plans is launched in September.

Under the proposals, owners of vehicles such as Land Rovers and the Citroen C6 would see charges double from the current 160 a year to 320.

Meanwhile, drivers of the least polluting vehicles in the outer zones would see their permit prices fall from 80 to just 15.