Victory against emission-based motorcycle parking charges- Enjoy it while you can

Victory: Bath Council backs down on emission-based motorcycle parking charges.

Bath Council backs down. Bath & North East Somerset (B&NES) Council has withdrawn plans to introduce emission-based charges for motorcycle parking.

B&NES Council said yesterday that amended emission-based parking charges will be introduced in January 2025. However, following a strong campaign, the Council has decided to back down on the motorcycle charges. A brief statement said: “Introducing emission-based charges for motorbikes has been withdrawn due to feedback received through the public consultation and technical challenges in providing them a lower parking charge.

MAG’s Director of Campaigns & Political Engagement, Colin Brown, said:
“We are delighted that motorcycle parking will remain free of charge in Bath and surrounding towns. But we need to be mindful that the statement from the Council suggests we have won on a technicality rather than winning in principle. We must remain vigilant for a renewed attempt to introduce charges for motorcycles further down the line.”

The Council statement went further on the question of motorcycle charges saying: “The council plans on reviewing those proposed charges through a new consultation process at a later date.”

One key element of the argument against the charges was the lack of data held by the DVSA on motorcycle CO2 emissions. A Freedom of Information request showed that emissions data is held for less than 10% of registered motorcycles. This lack of data is likely to be the ‘technical challenge’ mentioned in the Council’s statement. The original plan, in the absence of DVSA records, would have seen a system for motorcycles relating to engine capacity with a 50cc moped charged the same as a 1550cc car and a 600cc motorcycle charged the same as a car over 2950cc.

It seems likely that the Council will want to consult on an amended mapping of motorcycle engine capacity to CO2 emissions.

MAG’s Political Officer for the region, Geoff Mills, said:
“It is wonderful news that we have at least won a reprieve, but we should not fool ourselves into thinking that the war is over. This has been a successful opening skirmish, but clearly the Council plan to return to the matter in the future. I would like to thank all those who responded to the consultation, signed petitions and wrote to their Councillors. We have shown that we can be an effective lobby. But we cannot assume that this issue will not return. We must be ready.”

Notes for Editors
B&NES press release: https://newsroom.bathnes.gov.uk/news/...
MAG’s Consultation response: https://wiki.mag-uk.org/images/b/b8/B...

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