A COUNCIL is to exempt owners of "green" cars from residents' parking charges.

The move by Westminster City Council in central London will save those with eco-friendly vehicles almost £80 a year.

The exemption covers hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius, which runs on electricity and petrol, as well as those powered by liquefied petroleum gas and hydrogen fuel cells. The new scheme - believed to be one of the first of its kind in the UK - is due to come into force at the end of next month.

Councillor Danny Chalkley, of Westminster council's economic development and transport section, said: "Our location in central London unfortunately means we have very poor air quality. However, we are not sitting back and refusing to do our bit. Instead, we are putting forward positive measures to encourage people to use greener forms of transport." He added: "Electric and eco-friendly cars are ideally suited to city driving and we hope to see more and more people using them to travel around Westminster.

"It's everybody's responsibility to do what they can to limit their impact on the environment. We believe these new measures will help reduce carbon emissions and make a real difference." Until now, owners of "green" cars in Westminster have paid £78 a year for residents' parking permits, with owners of other vehicles paying £110. Westminster's initiative follows the plans by another London council - Richmond upon Thames - to bring in much higher residents' parking charges of about £300 a year for "gas-guzzling" vehicles.