Talk of councils charging for workplace parking spaces could leave UK business with a £3.4billion bill.
The Workplace Parking Levy (WPL) scheme which has already been adopted by Nottingham City Council will see local businesses with over 10 spaces being charged by providing spaces to employees, making business travel a far more complicated issue.
The AA are against it, and a survey revealed that 95% of respondents in the Nottingham area believe it will make the city a less attractive place to do business and 78% thought the levy would not ease congestion.
What do you think of the proposals that we could soon see implemented in cities throughout the UK? Do you think it could be an alternative to the more controversial and difficult to implement congestion charging, or just a tax on large businesses that will eventually be passed onto the consumer, as well as discouraging city centre working?
Do you think this will incentivize businesses to look at alternative travel solutions such as switching to car clubs or that to the contrary, businesses will go ahead with paying an added tax for their staff travel habits to stay the same?
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I remember seeing Conservative MP Steve Norris talk at a Tory party fringe event last year about the ‘two main types of user’ who drive into town during the week - causing rush hour congestion. The first was someone who absolutely needed their car for work - plumbers, builders etc; while the second was someone who had a free parking space at their office - provided by work.
This scheme obviously attempts to tackle the second group. While I doubt that businesses will like it, I can see many simply cutting the number of car parking spaces they provide - which (one would theorise) displaces a number of current car drivers onto public transport, ergo reducing congestion.
It’ll be interesting to see if it works, and what the unintended consequences of it are, but it certainly seems fairer than a blanket congestion charge, which mainly hurts the less well off. Perhaps most importantly, lack of parking is thought much more likely to put people off driving into town than congestion…
In Nottingham big businesses have been persuaded to support the idea on the basis that the charge will progressively rise and funding will go into extending the tram system and making the alternatives more attractive. The success of this does depend on companies feeling they have a genuine influence on how it works. I think it will only work where the council can secure this ‘buy in’ from major established businesses in the area as otherwise the threat to relocate would undermine the councils confidence in implementing the scheme.
Seems like they’re pushing it in the wrong direction. So if I end up with no parking spot at work I’ll have to park further away, sometimes in a paid parking spot. Sure some people will end up on public transport, but not everyone. It depends on convenience. Why not encourage the use of public transport instead of pushing people away from work parking spots by applying fees?
Bob Black,
dubai car hire