Building’s Regenerate editor is feeling victimised by Richmond council’s stealth tax on oversized cars.

So Richmond Council says “Richmond upon Thames householders produce more CO2 than most other boroughs in London.” I live in one of the less affluent (yes, there are a few) corners of the borough and don’t much like my local authority naming and shaming me as a planet destroyer.

Maybe that’s because I’m hardly a typical Richmond resident. For starters, there’s that issue of my level of affluence (or lack of it). Then I don’t drive, I rarely take a flight, I fitted my home with low energy lightbulbs following my trial with an Electrisave device (see earlier blog) and I put out my food recycling bin every week (even though a blackened banana skin and the leftovers of the Friday night takeaway curry are all I can manage by way of contents).

Still I am delighted the council is proposing to link the price of residents’ parking permits to car emissions, so that drivers of Porsche 911s and Range Rovers pay more. It’ll help CO2 emission levels and the value of my humble home, which has that most prized of possessions: a parking space.