In Focus - When the levy breaks
When Nottingham City Council announced it was thinking of introducing a Workplace Parking Levy (WPL) to help cut carbon emissions and fund the extension to its wildly successful tram system, there was outcry from some sections of the business community. Companies would leave Nottingham, we were told.
The city’s professional services quarter would become a ghost town, with companies struggling to find the cash to cover their vast banks of car parking spaces. Worse, the cost could be passed down to the employee, and what would that mean for the city’s reputation for attracting the best talent? The question hung heavy in the air…
Times, as they so often do, have changed, however.
It had been thought plans for WPLs would be abandoned after ministers declared an end to the "war on motorists" within days of the formation of the coalition government.
However, media reports have pointed to a number of local authorities across the UK, including councils in Bristol, York, Devon, Hampshire, Leeds, Bournemouth, South Somerset and Wiltshire, which are actively examining a possible introduction of the charge in order to raise funds.
And why? Because cuddly Eric Pickles, secretary of state for communities and local government, has said that councils need to start finding other ways to increase revenue in the face of the biggest cash squeeze in a generation.
It is thought that Town Hall officials are considering taking a similar approach to Nottingham City Council, which will become the first local authority in the UK to impose a £250 levy on local employers from 2012. Within two years, the bill will rise to £350 and will target all companies with 11 or more parking spaces.
So, can those opposed to the WPL in Nottingham really say that it will drive them out of the city now? Talk to any council in the East Midlands and they’re openly admitting they need to look outside the box when it comes to getting some cash together. The WPL is a quick hit, and a relatively painless (as far as collecting the money goes) way to do that, it seems.
Most companies I’ve spoken to are quite open when they say that we need to do more to ease congestion in our cities, and I’ve even found some who are supportive of the WPL scheme. Most, however, think we should work towards a more integrated transport system and upgrade what we’ve already got; more buses, they say, better trains and, as ever the widening of the A453. No-one’s holding their breath there, of course…
Yet, if the WPL does spread then it surely puts its opponents in something of a quandary. Will there be a nationwide campaign against the levy’s introduction, or will businesses merely accept the extra outlay each year as a by-product of changing, more austere times? Car parks have rarely been so interesting.
