What value a car parking space?

As a driver, it's easy to feel a sense of entitlement over the road space outside one's home, but what value should be placed upon it?

The pressure on parking space is most acute in large cities, despite these areas housing the highest proportion of people without access to a car. In common with other boroughs in London, Islington is blighted by dangerous air pollution from traffic. In response, the council charges residents to park based on the emissions of their car. For example, it costs nothing to park an electric car, £78 for a the permit to park a Range Rover Evoque eD4 (130g/km CO2) and almost £500 per year to park the biggest gas guzzlers.

However, the council charges £104 (plus £25 as a key deposit) to park a bicycle in one of it's on street bike hangers. We understand that the bike hangers cost money to buy, install and maintain, but what better use for the funds generated by those who insist on parking the most polluting vehicles?

The discrepancy in cost calls into question our attitudes to parking charges.

Barnet council lost an appeal in 2013 brought by disgruntled residents who objected to the cost of their annual parking permits being increased to £100. However, the plaintiffs should thank their stars that parking space is not yet charged on the basis of its land value.

If parking fees were based on land value, Barnet might feasibly multiply the average cost per square metre of housing by the area occupied by the average car (£6,668 x 11.52m2). This puts the value of a car parking space at over £75,000 – a sum which makes the £100 per annum permit to occupy it seem not only cheap, but over subsidised.

Given that people in cities are suffering so badly from the health effects of air pollution, and bearing in mind that more than half of them do not even have access to a car, shouldn't we become more creative in the way we use car parking space. Architects have put forward concepts for houses that each occupy the area of a car parking space. Or, if the idea of replacing car parking spaces with homes is too far fetched, how about more parklets? These temporary green spaces replace a car parking space and offer a community space for everyone to enjoy.

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