Parking blueprint set out with sustainable travel, cleaner air and prioritising Blue Badge holders at heart of plan
Sustainable travel, cleaner air and prioritising Blue Badge holders are at the heart of the Council’s proposed five-year parking blueprint.
The Parking and Enforcement Plan 2021-26, which sets out the Council’s parking objectives over the next five years, will be subject to a 13-week public consultation following approval at Cabinet on Monday night (July 19).
Proposed policies introduced in the plan include major incentives to encourage more drivers to go electric, including free parking permits and free parking between 10am and 3pm each day for electric vehicles. In addition, the Council plans to introduce emissions based charging for short stay parking, and increase the diesel surcharge each year, making it progressively more expensive to purchase a permit for high polluting vehicles.
As we continue to move through the pandemic, it is important to note that in the beginning of the lockdown there were fewer motor vehicles travelling on our roads polluting the air. This behavioural change benefitted us all as more people opted for more sustainable modes of transportation or stayed home.
Now we are thinking about the future and the Council is working to support this change by rebuilding a greener Hackney, to avoid a car-led recovery that would impact the lives and health of Hackney people in a negative way.
Our intention is for this Parking and Enforcement Plan to help make the goal of cleaner, breathable air achievable. Through both controlled parking zones and other policies to manage car use, Hackney can make a contribution to reducing the impact on climate change and improving local air quality.
Some journeys may always need to take place by car, but by prioritising road users according to need, with Blue Badge holders at the top of that hierarchy, followed by ultra low emission vehicles and car club schemes, will support a shift towards more sustainable forms of transport. Through this consultation we want to explore these policies with the borough and to hear what residents think about these ideas.
The plan will be built around five key themes:
- Supporting the creation of sustainable streets for everyone, by re-prioritising more of our kerbside space to support greening in the borough, and sustainable transport.
- Providing high quality, customer focused services that respond to the needs of our residents, businesses and visitors.
- Encouraging fewer private vehicles on our roads and a switch to cleaner vehicles.
- Consolidating a fair, proportionate and transparent enforcement service to deliver high levels of compliance, and robustly tackle fraud.
- Delivering a consistent approach to parking products and services on all Hackney Housing estates.
Following a review of the current parking enforcement contract last November 2020, the Council decided to insource and return enforcement back to Council in house with the aim of:
- Creating a well-run service that delivers high-quality services and financial
stability.
- Providing new opportunities in the future for more streamlined services, giving the
Council greater control over the way the service is delivered
- Enabling the move towards an electric fleet of vehicles used for enforcement in line with the Council’s ambition to become carbon neutral
- Helping to tackle inequality by providing better job opportunities
For more information on the Parking and Enforcement Plan visit: hackney.gov.uk/pep