Dear LPG

I am a pensioner and now that I have spent a couple of years learning the crafts of successful emailing and internet shopping I am sure that, like many who really use the internet regularly, my virtual life has become a bit of a roller coaster.   I get lots of emails every day and I just can’t get to every one often enough to see everything that is sent.  It seems that you have to be there all day not to miss items such as the one I found recently.  It also appears that you can only access certain information by signing up to the associated websites; a bit of a trick if you ask me. 

I got tricked into logging onto the council’s website recently while trying to sort out an unrelated issue and I am sure that their staff assumes that the borough’s constituents spend all their time checking out all the information that they send online. 

Though I have now seen it about two weeks too late, I understand that Lewisham council want to put up the parking fine charges for the owners of vehicles that they assume have higher exhaust emissions, introduce surcharges for the owners of diesel powered vehicles (in spite of the fact that not so long ago it was the government that spent a lot of time telling us to buy such cars, because they would be better for the environment), notwithstanding the fact that owners of  parking permits are entitled to 10 hours of free parking and only issuing them if those people know about them, increasing the basic parking rate in the borough so that what you pay depends on the vehicle you have  and making it illegal for disabled parking bays to be used by non-blue badge holders.

While I agree with some of the proposals – I take issue with the fact that drivers are to be made to pay even more to stop in the borough depending on what car they have.   This will mean that the owners of diesel powered and older cars will be expected to pay the most; in effect stunting their ability, for even longer, before they managed to save for a car that will ever allow them the ability to pay less.  My fear is that the people who will be really hit are those that can barely manage to afford their cars in the first place.  Small businesses will be hard hit by the proposals and we all see them rise and fall, the young parents that depend on the older cars to get children to and from school and their baby sitters so that they can continue to work, and the older drivers who have had and cherished their cars which they often regard as the link between them, their independence and the outside world (especially if they live alone.)

I also note the assumption that the age of a vehicle is the only variable that dictates its performance when it comes to exhaust emissions.  I find that the implication of being able to enter your registration number and find out where your car stands implies this.  Though I am no mechanic even I have read that there are ways of improving the emission performance of vehicles and I cannot see where the public are being offered information about these.

I understand that new cars have to conform to rules that will allow their vehicles to remain within the confines of such criteria but I don’t understand why natural wastage, as people buy newer cars, is not the way forward rather than many of these rules which will effectively force many of Lewisham’s poorer council tax payers off the roads. 

I also would like to know more about the consultation process because having seen this email.  I can use the internet yet managed to miss this information; what of the drivers and pedestrians who do not use the internet or cannot get to the libraries or consultation meetings.  I would be interested to know how such a consultation is conducted; one of the processes I hope to learn more about. 

I have to say that it appears to me that the council has seen another opportunity to make more money out of its constituents, especially motorists, while they blame the government for having to do this.  It is not news that we have to do something about the environment but do we not also have to take into consideration the people that will be forced to give up their cars, or is the aim to force them to do just that leaving more space for the newer ones that councillors are more likely to afford and which will not incur these extra fines and fees.  

CE, Ladywell