Conservative councillors are criticising the Labour-led city council for scrapping its free parking for electric vehicles in Central MK.
Since 2013, drivers using electric cars have had access to free parking in council-owned car parks, under a decision made by Milton Keynes City Council.
Now, the City Council is being criticised for 'failing on Climate Change' after a decision to scrap free electric vehicle parking.
Milton Keynes City Council now plans to give drivers 50% discount on parking. The discount will then be completely scrapped by 2025.
A report from a Delegated Decision meeting states the 100% discount (completely free) Ultra Low Emission Permit will move to a 50% discount. 'It is then proposed that in January 2025 that both the Ultra Low Emission Permit and Low Emission Permit will no longer be in place and instead motorists will be redirected to the standard employee discount parking scheme.
'A discount for Ultra Low Emissions has been in place since 2016, and the Low Emissions Permit since 2013.'
David Hopkins, leader of the Conservative Group on Milton Keynes City Council and former Chair of the Climate Task and Finish Group, commented: “The scheme was the first in a series of UK initiatives designed to give people more reason to buy electric vehicles and was funded using the Government 'Go Ultra Low Cities' funding.
"This initiative, that set MK out as a pioneer in tackling the climate emergency was in line with the cross-party drive to improve air quality, create jobs and achieve the city council’s contribution to the goal of every car and van in the UK being zero-emissions by 2050.
"This further represents the Labour led councils move away from its commitment to a greener future for MK and represents the latest in a series of decisions seemingly abandoning the council’s commitment to tackling the climate emergency at a local level."
Councillor Lauren Townsend, Cabinet Member for Public Realm, said: “Ten years ago the Council introduced a 100% employee discount for electric vehicles in order to help boost take up.
"Milton Keynes now has one of the highest figures of electric car ownership in the country so we are doing well.
"However, as electric vehicles become more mainstream it is harder to justify for a number of reasons. We now have over 3000 vehicles that claim the permit and, in general, the discount disproportionately benefits those on higher incomes who are often able to work more flexibly. Also as there are more and more electric cars, it is right that the amount they pay is standardised.
"Overall, Milton Keynes still offers exceptionally good value whether parking for shopping or for work when compared to other cities. Minimum fees of £1 for two hours in a standard space and £2 for an hour on premium is still cheaper than even less successful shopping towns nearby. We have not put up the tariff for eight years - unlike other places we don’t simply hammer motorists for profit.
"But we do recognise it’s a balance between fairness to those that drive and meeting our ambition to have less congestion and better public transport, so we need to get the balance right, which is why we hope to invest any extra revenue generated by these changes in improving our roads or supporting our struggling bus network as best we can.”
