LIB DEMS LEAD THE WAY ON Co2

'Council launch questionnaire on linking parking permit charges to Co2 vehicle emissions'Waltham Forest Council is set to launch an extensive public questionnaire to gauge borough resident's attitudes towards issues such as tying parking permit charges to Co2 emissions, which have a damaging effect on our climate.The questionnaire, which can be downloaded from the Council Website requested from Waltham Forest Direct (WFD), or picked up from Council Offices or public libraries, asks residents' for their views on a number of issues linked to the environment - including proposed parking permit charges, local transport issues, and climate change and global warming. More specifically the questionnaire asks residents whether they would support or oppose the introduction of a scheme in Waltham Forest whereby the cost of a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) residents' permit reflected the Co2 emissions of the vehicle. The Council hopes to encourage the use of low emission vehicles to help protect the environment by introducing a discounted residents car parking permit charge for low emission vehicles, and a higher charge for high emission vehicles. A similar scheme is being introduced in Richmond, with wide-scale public backing. Referring to the questionnaire, Cabinet Member for the Environment, Cllr Bob Belam said; "We want to know what residents in Waltham Forest genuinely feel about these important issues. So far the response from the community to our environmental initiatives - such as the compulsory recycling scheme - has been very positive. But we'd like to hear what they think on this specific proposal, as well as what they think about the environment in general". He went on to say that a significant amount of Co2 generation is attributed to transport and travel activities. We therefore want to try to protect our environment by limiting the amount of Co2 from vehicle emissions."If you walk down our boroughs streets, many of them are chock-a-block with parked vans, lorries, cars and other vehicles, making life for the residents of those streets intolerable. This measure is designed to combat this problem". "The basic principle is pretty simple. People whose vehicles emit more Co2, and therefore damage our environment more, should pay more; whereas those whose vehicles are more environmentally friendly, and omit less Co2, should pay less. In this way, people will think twice about running a high emission vehicle, and hopefully vehicle emissions in our borough will be reduced".