Electric car drivers 'should get free parking in push to go green'

Wolverhampton along with other areas of the West Midlands has experienced considerably lower levels of carbon emissions in the air during lockdown.

A city councillor has now called for measures to sustain the improvement, calling for for the drivers of electric or hybrid cars to be exempted from parking charges on city parking bays.

Drivers of zero-emission cars are already to be given distinctive green number plates which could make them eligible to by-pass congestion zone charges or secure cheaper parking.

Councillor Paul Birch said: “The city could offer free parking to drivers of electric cars, hybrids and even low-emission vehicles.

“Also, on some busy streets, we could think about a residents’ parking scheme, to enable residents vehicles only on certain streets.

“If there is one thing the lockdown has proved, it’s that life feels better without motor vehicle emissions. For the first time, people like me who suffer from asthma have had clean air. And it’s made a massive difference.

“As Charles Dickens wrote – ‘it was the best of times, it was the worst of times’. One of the benefits of the lockdown has not only been a reduction in noise, it’s been the ability to breathe again.

“It would be a great pity if we can’t learn a lesson that in giving up something we can no longer keep, we would be gaining something that we should never lose,” he added.

Environmental campaigner Steve Bradley, a Green parish councillor in neighbouring Lower Penn, also supported the free parking idea.

Councillor Bradley, who lives in Penn, said: “Speaking personally, I think Wolverhampton needs to send out far stronger signals to its residents about the changes that are needed.

“The city is still welcoming unsustainable practices and initiatives, such as the new Jaguar Land Rover engine plant at i54, which, green credentials over-hyped, will actively encourage further burning of fossil fuels, thus reducing this grave issue to one of individual lifestyle choice.

“All cars made now should be electric, and it is down to the government to ensure that there is the requisite number of charge-points to make this a realistic prospect.

“But Councillor Birch’s idea is a good one, making the prospect of owning an electric vehicle a more attractive one. I also believe there will soon be more places to charge in the city.

“Swapping petrol and diesel vehicles for EVs would reduce the UK’s carbon-dioxide emissions by an eighth, so it would be a great start.

“When our cars needed replacing last year, our household went fully electric with a Nissan Leaf and a Renault Zoe, and it’s definitely part of the way forward, along with a far greater investment in a wider public transport network, and encouragement of cycling, walking and home-working.

“The lockdown, with its improved air quality and the associated boost for wildlife, should make people reflect even more on whether a return to business-as-usual is the right thing. It isn’t.”