Councillors in the Welsh city of Cardiff will today likely vote through plans to introduce higher parking charges for SUVs. The plans—aimed to tackle the scourge of “carspreading”—were recommended by city officials following a public consultation.
The findings of the council’s City Parking Plan say that “large heavy vehicles take up more parking space and are a danger to other road users.” It is recommended that a “surcharge for vehicles over 2,400kg Revenue Weight will be introduced to encourage drivers to switch to smaller vehicles. In time, this will be reduced to 2,000kg (for non-electric vehicles). Very large vehicles (vehicles over 3,500kg Revenue Weight) will not be entitled to permits.”
Two thirds of those who responded to the public consultation agreed that larger vehicles should pay more for permits, while less than a quarter disagreed.
Earlier, hundreds of residents had signed a petition calling for “fairer parking charges based on the size of the car to reduce congestion and road danger.” The petition warned that: “the higher the vehicle front the more likely a person will be knocked under the car, rather than pushed to the side.”
Oliver Lord, head of climate advocacy group Clean Cities, said: “Cardiff is showing real vision by standing up to the SUV carspreading that’s taking over our streets. It’s only fair that those driving the biggest, heaviest and most polluting vehicles pay more for the extra space and danger they bring.”
ForbesParis Votes To Triple Parking Charges For SUVsBy Carlton Reid
Clean Cities was one of the founder members of the SUV Alliance, a campaign made up of a coalition of 19 environmental and transport groups. The Alliance has published a manifesto calling for changes to Vehicle Excise Duty to tax SUVs and the heaviest and most polluting vehicles more when they are sold and allowing local authorities to introduce higher parking charges on SUVs and similar vehicles.
Children are three times more likely to be killed in a collision with an SUV than a regular car, according to a recent study by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
In Paris, the tripling of the parking rate for SUV-type vehicles has already made it possible, according to the City, to reduce by two thirds the number of SUVs using surface parking.
Around 62% of all new cars sold in the U.K. are now SUVs. Since 2021, around 4.6 million oversized cars—too big for a standard urban parking space—have been sold in the U.K., with sales exceeding 1.2 million a year.