Will the extension lead to lower property prices on its border?
As anti-congestion charge campaigners are gearing up for last-ditch protests and local authorities take TfL to task over planning issues for cameras, who are the real winners and losers going to be the home owners when the new congestion charging begins on February 19th?
According to Sunday Times property correspondent Helen Davies, “Depending on who you believe the new zone will either be another step on the way to a greener, less congested London or the harbinger of untold traffic misery and straggling property prices for those unfortunates who live beyond its border.”
“Residents living within the newly expanded congestion charge boundary — or within certain key designated areas alongside it — will be eligible for a 90% discount on the road-use charge. But property owners caught on the wrong side of the tracks will find themselves having to pay £8 every time they want to drive a few streets inside the zone to a local school, or to a favourite shop or neighbourhood restaurant. They may have to contend, too, with an influx of extra cars on their own streets.”
Knight Frank’s head of residential research told The Sunday Times “Houses just inside the zone will rise at a faster rate than those outside the zone. However, there may be an adverse impact from the extension in locations such as Earls Court and North Kensington, along the western edge of the expanded zone.”
Not the case argues Nick Austin Sales Manager of Hammersmith’s John Hollingsworth who told HammersmithToday.co.uk“When the initial congestion charge came into force there was no major movement of population in the zoned areas.”
He continued “Although I cannot predict the future I feel that we could see a slight decrease in the number of buyers, for people selling their property within the new area, with buyers increasingly choosing just outside the new area. However I feel the extension of the congestion charge could see a slight increase for home owners just outside the new area”.
Dr Gordon Taylor, Chairman of the West London Residents Association who is organsing a last-ditch protest against the western extension in conjunction with the local authorities, said "Although the new extension is rolled out in Kensington, many residents and businesses in neighbouring Hammersmith will ultimately suffer as well. There is overall anger in West London that the extension of this crude and expensive zone charging system, which will adversely affect people's lives and livelihoods, is still being pushed by the mayor."
February 15, 2007