Only radical steps might save strategy

Quite how far the department can bend before it breaks is open to question. The new taxes are a key part of the transport strategy with an income of £3.85m., yet the minority report estimated that about half of all cars are already exempt from both width and emissions duty.

Raise the bar too high by exempting all but the largest and most noxious vehicles and the strategy will lose not only essential funding but credibility as well.

And with deputies already admitting that Sunday's demonstration has shaken their faith in key parts of the strategy, such as the first registration duty and paid parking, it seems unlikely that any concessions will be enough.

The 25-19 vote in May in favour means only four deputies need jump ship to put the strategy at risk.

One option discounted in the minority report but which might have at least some chance of success is dropping the width and emissions tax entirely to be replaced by the reinstatement of motor tax. It has several advantages over a one-off fee as it spreads the load over old and new cars and can be set up to penalise polluting gas guzzlers that are already on the road without hitting new-car buyers with an enormous one-off bill.

It makes far more sense to encourage islanders to buy newer cars that are more eco-friendly than the current proposals, which offer the population an incentive to run their existing jalopies into the ground.

The minority report itself acknowledged that an annual motor tax would be 'the most effective disincentive to large or high-emission vehicle ownership' but rejected that route because it might be seen as a step back in time to the pre-fuel-tax era. It was feared it would also cost more to administrate.

That is now the least of the department's issues. In the current climate, any new tax will sit badly with hard-pressed islanders but if Environment wants the transport strategy to have any chance of survival, it has to compromise and ditch first registration duty.