NEWS
NATIONAL
PARKING PROVIDES SOLUTION
CLAMPING IS IN THE AUTUMN OF ITS DAYS
The government has passed a law making it an offence for private operators to immobilise vehicles as part of the enforcement process. Clamping and towing away will be an offence in England and Wales from October 2012. Until this change comes into force, anyone undertaking vehicle immobilisation activity must ensure that they are properly licensed to do so. The BPA has long fought for regulation of private clamping operators, although the BPA has resisted a ban, as it feels this removes a layer of protection for landlords. The
government has agreed that parking operators will have access to keeper details so they can follow-up on parking infringements, but this concession will only be granted if an independent appeals service is created to give motorists the same right of appeal as they currently enjoy with local authority parking penalties. Holders of an SIA Vehicle Immobiliser licence that expires before this time must either stop on expiry of the licence, or renew the licence if they are to carry on with vehicle immobilisation in England and Wales until October.
DROWNING IN AN ASPHALT SEA
A revolution is required in our attitude to car parking, according to the author of a new book. Eran Ben-Joseph claims we are adrift in a ‘sea of asphalt’ and calls on architects to design car parks which are more aesthetically pleasing and have less environmental impact. Ben-Joseph, a
professor of landscape architecture and planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), says that surface car parks in the US, cover an area larger than Jamaica and Qatar (4,700 sq km). In his book, Re-thinking a Lot, Ben-Joseph said:
8 JUNE 2012
‘Land is plentiful in the US – except for some cities – and consequently parking lots take up huge amounts of space. Shopping malls, cinemas, hotels, stadiums, factories and offi ce complexes are surrounded by prairies of bitumen.’ In major European cities, in Japan, and in US cities like New York and Boston where land is at a premium, multi-storey car parks – or parking garages – are the preferred option. Prof Ben-Joseph
argues car parks should be designed and built to be more ‘environmentally responsible’ and ‘aesthetically pleasing’.
Windmills featured in landscapes painted by Dutch old masters remind us that the low-landers of the Netherlands are adept at keeping the tide at bay. Now, the current
threat of rising tides and heavier rains, resulting from climate change, has led to some innovative measures being taken to deal with fl oods in a country where 60 per cent of the inhabitants live below sea-level. And utilising a
parking garage is part of the measures being incorporated in a city- wide programme of water management. Arnoud Molenaar, manager of the Rotterdam climate-proof programme, explained: ‘A parking garage built
last year incorporates a 10,000 cubic metre underground rainwater store. Expensive
underground structures aren’t generally favoured in this fl ood-prone city, but millions of euros were saved by combining car park and water store.’ Rotterdam is the Netherland’s second- biggest city and around 90 per cent of it is below sea level, making it particularly vulnerable. ‘We’ve always invested in prevention, wanting to keep the water out, but now we are trying to fi nd solutions to live with the water. Keeping on with traditional techniques like raising the dykes is coming to an end because it’s not possible to raise them higher and higher,’ said Molenaar.
THE WHAT, WHY AND HOW OF MOTORING TAXATION
The greening of our motor industry is
not just having an impact on the parking
infrastructure (see p24); a new report commissioned by the RAC Foundation has revealed that there is also an economic impact. A rise in fuel-effi cient vehicles means revenue from fuel duty and Vehicle Excise Duty is set for a dramatic fall.
The conclusion, outlined in the report Fuel for thought; the what, why and how of motoring
taxation, suggests that the greening of the vehicle fl eet will have a signifi cant impact upon revenue raised from motorists. The report,
commissioned by the Insititute of Fiscal Studies, outlines the options open to the Chancellor: raising petrol and diesel duty above infl ation is politically diffi cult; taxing green vehicles may be an inevitable direction of travel; and the concept of introducing ‘pay as you go’ driving is controversial.
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