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Congestion Charging

from Cathy (cathyvpreece@aol.com)
Property

Price fear amid car fee chaos

House values on the edge of the London traffic zone could fall, warns Alexander Garrett

Sunday November 10, 2002

The Observer

Estate agent Mark Davis's office window gives him a bird's eye view of preparations for London's congestion charging scheme.

Cameras have already been installed, the road outside is being widened, 'magic' boxes with odd-looking wiring systems are being fitted and the sequencing of the traffic lights has been changed.

An increasing number of people are only interested in property inside the zone and we're putting it on all our details,' says Davis. 'It hasn't affected prices yet, but it's bound to.'

Kennington Lane, where he works in a branch of Winkworth, is on the southern edge of the zone that motorists will pay £5 a day to enter when the scheme starts on 17 February 2003.

People living on the north side of the lane will be eligible for a 90 per cent discount, while those on the south side face paying £1,250 a year for the privilege of driving beyond the other side of their own road.

The aim of Mayor Ken Livingstone's scheme is to reduce traffic in the the centre of the capital. But many people, particularly those living around the periphery of the eight square mile zone, are unhappy. The inhabitants of Kennington Lane fear their relatively quiet residential street will become London's new southern ring road, with a huge increase in traffic and pollution. A court action by their body, the Kennington Association, and Westminster Council failed last summer to have the scheme postponed, and the residents were left nursing a bill for £10,000 costs.

John Clemens, the association's secretary, says: 'We are very concerned about the social effect this will have on our community as well as the air and noise pollution.

'It's going to be hugely inconvenient and expensive for anybody who needs to cross the ring road, take children to school or go to the doctor.'

The group commissioned estate agent Cluttons to report on the likely effect of the scheme on house prices in Kennington Lane. The verdict: they would lose, on average, 16 per cent of their value.

Undaunted, Transport for London commissioned its own report from another agent, Chesterton, which concluded it would have 'no discernible effect'.

The zone was only one small component in the complex bundle of factors that determine London property prices, it added.

The High Court judge accepted Chesterton's view.

David MacLean-Watt, who wrote the Cluttons report, says Kennington Lane faces 'a significant increase in traf fic, and I concluded that this would result in a severe decrease in property prices'.

He predicts that, because of the knock-on effect of drivers trying to avoid charges, those outside the boundary will be asking to be included.

The charging zone will affect people's shopping habits and social life, he argues. 'If you live outside, you will think twice about going to a restaurant inside; if you go to a school inside the zone but live outside, will your parents drive you over to play with your friends, if it costs them a fiver?'

Similar fears are felt all around the periphery of the zone. There are residents in Westminster who live outside it, but have parking space allocated to them inside the area. As one contributor to an internet bulletin board put it: 'I am apparently not eligible for a discount and I will have to pay £5 to drive down my own road, and park at the end of it, if there is no space directly outside my house.'

In Islington, on the northern edge, most properties are outside the boundary. Nick Moore, of estate agent Hamptons, says: 'As people start to think about it, it may well affect property values.'

If there are winners, they will be the 83,000 people living inside the congestion charging zone. Those wanting to use their car full-time will pay only £2.50 a week, or around £125 a year, more than £1,000 less than 'outsiders'.

For this reason alone, many predict that homes inside the zone will soon be worth more than those just outside it.

Yet some inside the zone are still unhappy, saying they are the only ones forced to pay congestion charges unless they simply don't use their cars, and that friends and family will be deterred from visiting them.

Transport for London is running roadshows around the capital to try to assuage the residents' concerns. If the benefits of the scheme become evident once it has started - and TfL predicts a 15 per cent fall in central London traffic - those living in places such as Kennington will simply have to learn to live with it.

Charging ahead

From 17 February, anybody driving in the charging zone between 7am and 6.30pm, Monday to Friday, will have to pay the daily congestion charge of £5. If you pay between 10pm and midnight, there is a surcharge of an additional £5. Cameras will record the registration numbers of cars moving within the zone and, if you have not paid by the end of the day, you will be sent an £80 penalty (£40 if paid within 14 days). The 83,000 people who live within the zone can register for a 90 per cent discount. There is a range of payment options, including online at www.cclondon.com, by phone (0845 900 1234), at a post office, selected retail outlets, petrol stations and at car parks.
(posted 7810 days ago)

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