Maidstone Greens have criticised claims that free parking for electric vehicles, to be offered by the council in Maidstone, is the “single dramatic thing the council could do in the next year to two years”. The Greens highlight a range of measures that would have a greater impact on the Borough’s carbon emissions and that EV drivers can probably afford to pay for parking.
Stuart Jeffery, Maidstone Green Party “It was probably one of the cheaper options, certainly but not the most dramatic. How about insulating homes? Our Green colleagues in Kirklees led the way on this years ago. What about refitting heating? The majority of heating in the borough is gas and while there are government schemes to assist refitting, the council could make this cheaper and easier.
“What about investing in alternatives to cars? We simply cannot expect a wholesale switch to EVs – even if the battery construction problem is solved, there is then the question of where the addition electricity is going to come from. Far cheaper and easier to invest in decent, cheap, useable public transport and restrict car use.
“How about actually measuring and monitoring the carbon footprint of the borough. You can’t manage something that you don’t measure. Then set a carbon budget and stick to it. Make some hard choices, just as if it was a financial budget.
“What about education? How about helping farmers switch to no-plough solutions, carbon sequestration methods, tree planting and rewilding? Promoting diets that are more plant based?”
“Free parking for EVs just gives free parking to people who can afford £30k for a car. The rest of us? Well we can watch enviously.”
