A wheely good idea

11:08am Wednesday 24th October 2007

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A new car club scheme is due to be launched in Surbiton by April next year.

Surbiton neighbourhood committee approved a proposal to turn two mixed use parking bays next to the clocktower in Claremont Road into designated car club spaces.

Car clubs cut the need for car ownership by allowing registered users to pick up vehicles from designated spots and hire them by the hour.

The cars are scattered around the borough and their location is shown on a website. A traffic management order will be published in January, and if no objections are raised, the council will ask rival car clubs to bid for the Surbiton parking spaces.

Many car club schemes, such as Streetcar, operate in neighbouring boroughs and, according to council officers, a number of firms have shown an interest in setting one up in Surbiton.

The establishment of car clubs has been shown to reduce the amount of people owning cars which leads to reduced CO2 and local air pollutant emissions.

Councillor Liz Shard, executive member for sustainability and biodiversity, welcomed the proposal.

She said: "I think it's great we're going to get down to it. I think if anything, the car club company will come to us asking for more spaces as there will be no problem with interest."

• What do you think? Would you take part in a car club scheme? Post your comments below.