Electric vehicles set to lose exemption from parking charges in Hammersmith

By Ben Lynch, Local Democracy Reporter

Hammersmith and Fulham council is to shift to an emissions-based charging model for residents’ parking permits, including a new cost for electric vehicles (EVs).

The local authority’s cabinet agreed proposals to amend its existing charging model in a bid to discourage driving higher-emitting vehicles, with EVs paying less than bigger polluters. But they will still have to pay.

The borough’s resident parking permit charges have not been updated since 2012, with no increase in-line with inflation over that period. The current Labour administration came in in 2014.

From January 2025, the council is looking to introduce a new payment model, offering either a 12-month, six-month or rolling monthly permit based on seven tiers of emissions. A diesel surcharge of 50 per cent is also to be included, plus an additional fee for second vehicles.

The existing costs for a resident permit are either £119 or £60 for a vehicle producing 100g/km of CO2 or less over a 12-month period. Electric vehicles can be parked for free. For second vehicles, there is a flat fee of £497.

Under the new proposals, presented to the council’s cabinet on Monday, the fee is to range from £125 to £340 a year, depending on the emissions produced. The rolling monthly permit options will range from £10.42 to £28.33. Second vehicles will be charged triple.

Roughly 17 per cent of current resident permit holders with a first vehicle permit are estimated to have to pay the diesel surcharge, rising to 24 per cent of those with a second permit.

Council officers noted that EVs were still polluters: A report said: “They (EVs] still have a negative impact on public health and it is notable that electric vehicles continue to produce considerable amounts of air pollution emissions, from brake wear and tyre wear.

“It should also be noted they are no different from other vehicles in the space they take up on the public carriageway. They also contribute to general congestion increasing the amount of idling time conventional vehicles spend on their journeys.”

Cllr Stephen Cowan, leader of the council, said the proposal was about the borough hitting its climate change objectives, and was not a money-making venture.

He said: “You never alter parking charges for money. You alter them to make changes to other policies; traffic flows, environmental measures, and the such.”

The decision to introduce the new charging model for residents follows on from a similar scheme rolled out for visitor parking in 2021, and updated last year.

As a result, between 2022 and 2024, the council says there has been a four per cent decrease in diesel vehicles recorded, alongside a five per cent increase in electric and hybrid vehicle usage.

The new scheme also includes amendments to charges for resident visitor permits, business visitor permits and visitor parking. Key worker permits will not be moved to an emissions-based model, though will be subject to an inflation-linked increase.

Other London councils, including Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea, have already introduced emissions-based parking schemes.

Picture: Pixabay/VariousPhotography