It is one of London’s most affluent and leafy suburbs, but the residents of Richmond upon Thames find themselves at the centre of a quiet revolution this weekend.

Drivers of 4x4s and other so-called “gas-guzzlers” are facing a £300-a-year charge to park in front of their own homes, under new proposals put forward by the local council.

Those who own a second high polluting car will be hit with an additional fee of £450, while residents with the greenest vehicles will receive a discount on their annual parking permit, currently fixed at £100.

Richard Stones, 60, an IT consultant who runs three high-performance BMWs with his girlfriend, is outraged. “I need my car and I don’t see why I should be penalised because it has a larger engine,” he said. “I travel about 400 miles a week to get to work in Milton Keynes and getting public transport would add at least 90 minutes to each journey.”

Other residents see the planned hike in parking charges as a necessary evil. Jean White, 42, a mother of four who has never owned a car in London, said: “I think it’s a good thing. Every piece of concrete in Richmond is overflowing with 4x4s and other cars. With all the aeroplane emissions overhead from nearby Heathrow, you can smell the diesel in the air.”

The Richmond scheme, which could be adopted by councils across the country if successful, goes to the heart of a conundrum in Britain’s transport policies.

How do you give people unfettered freedom to travel while curbing harmful emissions that are contributing to global warming?

The coming weeks will see a flurry of government activity on this issue. In the Queen’s speech next month Labour is expected to introduce a transport bill that will pave the way for national road pricing. It is also likely to put forward a climate change bill setting out long-term targets to cut carbon emissions.

A government-commissioned review of transport infrastructure by Sir Rod Eddington, the former chief executive of British Airways (BA), will be published at about the same time.

However, the ball will start rolling tomorrow when Sir Nicholas Stern, head of the government economic service, will lay out detailed plans to tackle global warming.

“The transport debate has reached a crunch point in terms of government decisions,” said Professor David Begg, a former Whitehall adviser.

“We’ve been so focused on congestion and the economy — and that’s what Eddington is all about — but moving up fast on the inside rail is the environment debate and transport’s unacceptable contribution to climate change.”

Road transport accounts for up to a quarter of Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions. What can be done to balance the public desire to get to places quicker and the need to keep emissions in check — indeed, are the two objectives mutually exclusive?

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