Westminster City Council will revamp its parking schemes so that residents and visitors are charged based on their vehicles' tailpipe emissions.

The council's existing pay-to-park scheme already includes a diesel surcharge, and has ‘extremely low' charges for electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids, starting from 8p an hour.

The cost of a resident permit is currently based on vehicle engine size – and has been since April 2000 – but the authority said this method is out of date.

Resident permits are currently free for ‘eco-vehicles'. However, the council said it is unable to accommodate the increasing use of EVs, which will render the current charges ‘unsustainable'.

Under the new scheme, resident permits for EVs will increase to the equivalent of £1.50 a week.

The authority also warned that the new scheme will involve a ‘large percentage increase' from the current low charges for visitors to park EVs.

Westminster's cabinet member for city management and air quality, Paul Dimoldenberg, said: ‘Until now, pay-to-park charges for EVs in Westminster have been extremely low, and to keep up with the increasing demand for EVs the council is moving to an emissions-based charging system.

‘The new scheme will support the growth of electric vehicles in the city while keeping charges fair, proportionate, and as low as possible.

‘To encourage more people to switch to an EV, the cost of parking an EV in Westminster will remain much lower than driving or a petrol or diesel car.'

This story first appeared on localgov.co.uk.