The law on implementing CPZs is pretty clear. They are a traffic management tool for improving access for residents. They are not designed to raise revenue.The mischief here, apart from the non consultation, is that the Council is effectively discriminating against a proportion of the population who live here, namely car owners who have no option but to pay for a permit. Fine, you might get some who decide to ‘ditch their dirty vehicles’ as the council so eloquently put it, but that’s not an option for many people. Nor is spending huge amounts on an electric vehicle (and they have their own issues which I won’t go into here).What these measures won’t do is provide any incentive for car owners who don’t live in a CPZ to make a ‘modal shift’ to other forms of transport. Take a look at the kinds of vehicles parked on many drives and you’ll see how many are very big diesel driven ones.These measures will do zero to tackle the main cause of pollution in the borough, the vast volumes of through traffic using main arterial routes like the A40 and A406. Those are TfL controlled roads outside the remit of the council.I also wonder how many of our Labour councillors drive dirty polluting cars, or have they decided to set an example for us to follow and ditched them?I suspect what the Council would like to do is put a congestion charge in the borough but they know full well that would be political suicide.A lot of the traffic clogging our streets is delivery vans, as the council acknowledges. Perhaps you internet shopping addicts should think more carefully about how your latest purchase gets to you.You might be quite surprised to see how little traffic there is in much of the borough during the day. Outside peak hours in the morning and evening the traffic is light, most roads are quiet.And I still don’t think it’s Khan or Bell’s place to dictate to me how I should get around. I walk when I can but that’s not always practical or possible. And closing the local library will mean one less place to walk to.
Simon Hayes ● 2578d