Voters say yes to higher parking charges for gas guzzlers
VOTERS in Islington have said "yes" to higher parking charges for gas guzzling cars.
Islington Council today revealed the result of the country's first local authority ballot of every resident on the electoral roll - more than 127,500 people - over whether owners of more polluting cars should pay more for residents parking permits.
The deadline for returns was yesterday (Monday) and today the Electoral Reform Services, who administered the referendum on behalf of the council, revealed 56 per cent of residents said yes.
The scheme will relate vehicle permit charges to their emissions of CO2 - with less polluting vehicles qualifying for reduced charges and the owners of more polluting vehicles, such as 4x4s, paying higher charges of up to £200.
Councillor James Kempton, leader of Islington Council, said: "This groundbreaking result has huge implications not just for Islington but for the whole country. We're the first council to ask people if they're up for meeting the challenge of climate change - the answer is yes. It shows that people are ready to make big changes to their lifestyle to tackle climate change.
"We've listened to our residents' views and we'll be acting on them by introducing a green charging system for residents' parking permits. By doing this we are challenging people to think about the cars that they drive and their impact on the environment. I hope that this will ultimately persuade people to switch to less polluting vehicles.
"We balloted every resident because it's our priority to be a council that listens to Islington. Our residents have told us that they want us to involve them in local democracy and share dilemmas with them. More than 36,000 people responded - a response rate almost as high as for a local election - which shows we were right to involve them in this important decision."
Islington Council sent ballot papers to more than 127,500 residents (80,000 households). A total of 36,792 residents sent in their votes - a response rate of 28.8 per cent. This is only slightly below the response rate for the 2006 local elections in Islington, which was 33 per cent. Of the valid ballot papers, 20,226 were in favour and 15,883 were against the green charging system for residents' permits.
The council says it will now be speaking to Homes for Islington about how a similar scheme in place on the borough's housing estates.
Councillor Kempton said: "We knew that not everyone would be in favour of this particular green policy because it's about making the polluter pay more and rewarding everyone else. Everyone is talking about making changes to tackle climate change but not everyone agrees what changes they should be. This shows, however, that most people are ready to make changes around the car they drive to help the environment."
The council's executive will formally consider the results on July 5.
REFERENDUM RESULTS IN FULL
Question: should the cost of a residents parking permit depend on how much the car pollutes?
Number voting yes - 20,266 (56.1 per cent)
Number voting no - 15,883 (43.9 per cent)
Total number of voters eligible - 127,544
Total number of votes received - 36,792
Total number by post - 27,382
Total number received by telephone - 2,016
Total by internet - 5,202
Total by SMS text - 2,192
Overall rate of participation - 28.8 per cent
Total number of spoilt or blank ballot papers - 643
Total number of votes counted - 36,149.
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