Two more New Year green resolutions – Part Three

Following his blog last week, Midlands green energy expert Ron Fox continues with two more of his New Year green resolutions for 2026.

Get into gear with pothole tax: Supersized cars should pay more as they cause more potholes and pose greater danger to cyclists and pedestrians.

That’s the view of Midlands green energy expert Ron Fox, who was commenting after it was revealed that the cost of repairing pothole-hit roads in England and Wales has reached a record high of £17 billion.

Clean Cities, a European lobby group campaigning for clean transport, said about 4.6 million cars that are bigger than a typical urban parking space have been sold in the UK since 2021.

Heavier cars are known to cause more road wear than smaller models.

“I think this year is the time to look at changing the tax system for cars,” said Ron, of Noreus Ltd on the University of Keele Science Innovation Park.

He said that at present vehicle excise duty (VED) is related to CO2 emission.

But the annual report of the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) found that one in six miles of the local road network now had less than five years’ structural life remaining.

Based on a survey of local authorities, it found that bringing up local roads to perfect condition would cost £16.8 billion and take 12 years to complete. At present, on average, roads are only completely resurfaced once every 93 years.

Problems with vehicles caused by potholes include damaged shock absorbers, broken suspension springs and distorted wheels.

“The UK is nowhere close to getting out of this rut,” said Ron. “So, I think these larger cars, the supersized SUVs which are more than 1.8 metres wide or 4.8 metres long, should pay more to help solve this problem quicker. I think this tax should be added to their annual vehicle excise duty bill.”

Cut back on bags of problems: One worrying statistic is that plastic bag sales have risen for the first time in a decade.

According to data from the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, two years ago Britons bought 407 million single-use plastic carrier bags. By last year, that had increased to 437 million, an increase of seven per cent.

It is the first time sales of single-use plastic bags have gone up since 2015, when a 5p charge was imposed on large retailers. This was waived during the pandemic, but in May 2021, this fee rose to 10p.

The increase has been blamed on the boom in online supermarket shopping, and that more than three-quarters of online deliveries were wrapped in plastic, undermining the environmental benefits from the levy on single-use plastic introduced ten years ago.

Wrap, a waste charity, said that internet sales had grown from about 2.8 per cent of all sales in 2006 to about 27 per cent in June last year.

“Ironically, almost 70 per cent of the public support replacing plastic with paper packaging, according to a survey of 2,000 people by Opinium and the package company DS Smith,” said Ron.

“I would encourage people to reject plastic bags when offered in the shops and to take their own shopping bags,” concluded Ron.

For those wanting more advice about green energy and fighting climate change call Ron on 0845 474 6641 or contact us here.

Part 4 next week.

Caption: Get out of a hole by bringing in a pothole tax. Picture: John Butterworth