Listen to residents. Invest in electric vehicles. Ensure climate justice

The Newham Liberal Democrats policy on emissions-based parking

Despite the current coronavirus crisis, climate change is the number one threat to the residents of Newham and to people across the country. Air pollution, which is intimately tied to climate change, already kills almost 100 Newham residents a year and damages the health of thousands of others. Immediate action is needed to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and to improve the quality of life for the residents of Newham now.

For these reasons Liberal Democrats support strong policy action to tackle climate change and air pollution head on. However, climate policy must be agreed to and implemented in consultation with local communities. And crucially, the burden of tackling climate change must fall on those with the broadest shoulders. Achieving climate justice, where the poorest in our society are not disproportionately impacted by climate policy, is key.

Under the current Labour council climate policy, in particular the new emissions-based parking scheme, fails these tests. The scheme in its current form:

• Was rejected by 89% of respondents to the consultation
• Targets the poorest residents in Newham, already hit hard financially by COVID-19, with fees of up to £200, leaving the wealthiest residents with off street parking facing no permit fees
• Fails to put in place the charging points needed to support the transition to electric vehicles, meaning residents can’t upgrade to electric vehicles even if they want to

The policy is a shambles, doesn’t encourage drivers to shift to electric vehicles and will not significantly reduce air pollution.

The Liberal Democrats, whilst advocating for the principle of emissions-based parking, do not support this scheme in its current form. By electing Liberal Democrat councillors, you will have loud voices on the council demanding:

1. A freeze to the rollout of the scheme
2. The reopening of the consultation to properly engage with residents
3. Investment in charging points so residents can actually upgrade to electric vehicles

The Liberal Democrats would only vote for emissions-based parking in Newham once the COVID-19 crisis has ended, a sufficient number of electric vehicle charging points have been installed and residents have been properly consulted. Importantly, this policy would only apply to those buying a new car, giving residents the opportunity to choose a car that is less polluting or electric, attracting lower to zero parking fees.

As we have seen in recent weeks with the suspension of the East and West Ham Labour parties due to allegations of electoral fraud, this council will not listen to Newham residents and is unable to implement effective policies.

If you want to end the incompetence of an out of touch Labour council, vote for your Liberal Democrat candidate on May 6^th to give Newham resident the strong opposition it needs.

Newham Lib Dems have voted to campaign against a directly elected mayor and for a committee system in Newham in the local referendum due in May 2021.  

We are now recruiting candidates for the 2022 local elections across Newham, Barking & Dagenham

Visit our Become a Candidate page to find out more and register your interest

Thanks to every member, candidate, supporter & voter who increased our vote share in the 2019 General Election!

A sizeable increase nationally – from 7.3 per cent to 11.5 per cent.

Locally we saw our vote share nearly triple in Barking and Dagenham & Rainham, double in West Ham and more than triple in East Ham!

Eimear O'Casey for West Ham and Michael Fox for East Ham have released statements on recent Newham Recorder and Metro articles reporting that: according to a study by the British Heart Foundation, toxic emissions in Newham increase the risk of an early death by the equivalent of smoking an average 159 cigarettes per year.

Liberal Democrat Candidate for West Ham, Eimear O'Casey, has spoken out about the issues facing our environment and the Lib Dem plans to tackle the climate emergency.

The Liberal Democrats have announced that they will spend £10 billion a year more on schools and hire 20,000 more teachers by the end of the next Parliament.  Michael Fox for East Ham and Eimear O'Casey for West Ham both welcomed the news as figures from the National Education Union show that next year (2020/21), schools in their respective constituencies will have seen their budgets cut by £16.3m and £10.4m respectively in real terms since 2015, once increasing pupil numbers are taken into account.

The Liberal Democrats announced today that they would allow Newham council to increase council tax by up to 500% on empty homes that are left empty long-term. The latest Government statistics show that there had been 894 homes left empty long-term Newham in 2018.

The Liberal Democrat candidate for Barking, Ann Haigh, is strong on protecting the environment and ensuring there is a sustainable future for generations to come. Today Ann adds her weight to the recent Lib Dem plans for tackling the climate emergency.

Ann Haigh, like you, is worried about rising knife crime and links with the criminals involved in illegal drug trade.

(Ann Haigh is the Liberal Democrat Candidate for Barking.)