Parking zones plans for Portsmouth deferred after report branded 'a mess'

As residents' parking zones (RPZs) continue to be a contentious subject Portsmouth City Council proposed amendments in a bid to ease parking woes, as well as encourage green travel.

These included offering free permits to electric car owners, reducing the price for less polluting cars and banning students living in halls from buying permits.

But plans were put on hold when opposition spokesman Councillor Simon Bosher described the wording of the proposals, written by the council's legal team, as 'ambiguous.'

During a traffic and transportation meeting last week (July 11) he said: 'Is this saying I will get the first electric car free and then pay £100 (the cost of a second permit) for the other?

'Or would I pay £30 for my first and make the electric car my second car?

'There are so many ambiguities around this - it's a mess. This report has got to go out and be as clear as day.'

Labour Cllr Graham Heaney added: 'I do think the recommendations have to be clear so we know what is decided and it can't be re-interpreted.'

Traffic and transportation boss Cllr Lynne Stagg defended the wording but deferred the item to a later meeting. 'I was reading it as how it was meant, but that's because I knew what it was supposed to mean,' she said.

However, it was not clarified by Cllr Stagg or officers whether an electric car would be entitled a free permit if it was a household's only car - as the report suggested - or if multiple electric cars for one house would not have to pay.

Cllr Bosher also felt that the proposed system to prevent students bringing cars to the city would not be effective.

He said: 'You are targeting students in halls of residence, but it says that only 17 permits to students in halls have been issued. Really it's students living in HMOs in the community that are the problem.'

The report will be re-written and heard at a future traffic and transportation meeting.