Cities leading the way to SUV-free futures
The SUV Alliance recognises that towns and cities can play a leading role in reducing the presence of large SUVs on our streets. Asks 3 and 5 in our manifesto relate to powers local councils have to charge SUVs more to park, and to restrict SUV advertising on council-owned advertising sites like bus shelters.
Parking surcharges
Our manifesto calls on UK councils to introduce progressively higher parking charges on heavier cars and SUVs, to ensure that larger cars pay for the public space they take up and for the outsized harms they do to the environment.
Whilst no council in the UK has yet done this, a number of European city authorities have. Perhaps most notably, Paris, France, introduced an SUV surcharge for visitors and residents travelling to another district. Within three months of the surcharge beginning, SUV numbers in the city were reported to have fallen by two-thirds.
And Paris is not alone. Below are listed other European examples of parking policies targeting larger cars.
Adapted from Goodman, Nix, Tyndall and Laverty (2025). Original here.
Advertising restrictions
Advertising plays a major role not only in driving SUV sales, but it also serves to normalise their presence on our streets. Outdoor advertising in particular, such as on bus shelters and billboards, sends the message that car is king whilst simultaneously undermining the kinds of sustaiable travel that many councils today seek to promote.
In May 2024, Edinburgh City Council became the first local authority in the UK to restrict advertising for SUVs on council-owned advertising sites, like bus shelters, and SUV sponsorship of council events.. This came as part of a more general policy on high carbon advertising advertising and sponsorship.
The Badvertising campaign have a comprehensive toolkit for local authorities looking to implement high carbon advertising policies, including a dedicated legal opinion.
