Bear in mind, and this is coming from a Peckham resident who opposed the CPZ in my area several years ago, due to my argument that "you won't make it cheap, then you'll suddenly increase it by 10% year on year, because moneygrubbers." (it, obviously, went ahead anyway)
Well, they increased annual fees by 80% this year, eight times my (low) expectation. An extra £100 (you'll see other threads in this forum of similarly surprised residents) for owning a car.
Their reasons totally spurious... "carbon cutting", "net zero", etc. etc. as though parked cars emit carbon. Identikit reasons for why they wanted to introduce it in the first place. I even read some council tosh about 'making our pavements more green and pleasant'.
But you see where this is going. I give it two years, tops, before they suddenly increase it another 50% --and that's a conservative estimate. They'll just keep bumping it up far higher than inflation can ever dream of reaching. It's such a wonderful cash cow! "Car owners--BOO!--are killing the planet, therefore we effectively need to criminalise them through massive fees (especially those mothers with 2 kids who need to do the weekly shop! Can't they simply take the woefullly infrequent and inadequate bus services with their 12kg of shopping and prams, even if it means missing 4 buses in order to actually find space, even during non-peak hours?)"
Set a reminder in your calendars. Another 50-80% before 2027. I guarantee it. Oppose CPZs at all costs, because if you don't, Southwark council are free to charge whatever they like, when they like, and you'll never be able to do anything about it. That'll be £500, please.
