Workplace parking levies look set to spread

Exclusive research by Fleet News has found that 11 cities have already investigated introducing a workplace parking levy.

Workplace parking levies (WPL) allow councils to charge local businesses for every parking space they provide to employees. Companies with large fleets could be hit hard as spaces for company vehicles that are used to commute to and from work fall within the levy’s scope.

The country’s first WPL got the green light earlier this year when Nottingham City Council got approval to introduce a levy in 2012. For forging ahead with the controversial scheme, it received over £500m worth of Government local transport grants. Businesses in Nottingham will be charged £265 a year for every space they provide in the ground-breaking charge that will raise as much as £14 million a year for the city’s public transport infrastructure development.

Now Fleet News has discovered that Southampton, Oxford, Bristol, York, Winchester, Stoke-on-Trent, Birmingham, Newcastle, Exeter, Plymouth and Cambridge have all investigated WPLs in their own cities.

The likelihood that more cities will follow Nottingham’s lead was raised after a local government think-tank said councils need to consider “novel ways” to meet investment needs. The New Local Government Network said local authorities should explore “alternative revenue raising powers including the workplace parking levy”. It proposes that local authorities “generate new revenue stream opportunities through modest user charging, including WPL implementation, when the recovery allows”.

Even Chambers of Commerce, which oppose WPLs, appear resigned to more levies being introduced.

“If WPL is seen by other local authorities to create modal shift from the car to public transport and to create a significant revenue stream for authority investment in infrastructure and other priorities, then local politicians will see it as a good thing and the Nottingham model or similar schemes will be introduced elsewhere,” concluded Suffolk Chamber of Commerce.

However, there may be a reprieve after the Tories tabled an early day motion last week trying to derail the legislation allowing WPLs.

“The Conservatives have made it clear that we oppose the introduction of workplace parking levies,” a party spokesman told Fleet News.

“Therefore it follows that when the Government tried to slip through secondary legislation on the subject, we prayed against the proposals to try to enable a debate and vote to take place on this important issue in Parliament.”

The Conservatives would not be drawn on whether they would repeal WPL legislation if they win next year’s election. But should they get into power, there will be pressure to prevent further WPLs being introduced from business groups, such as the British Chambers of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses, which recently dubbed WPLs “a stealth tax upon business”.

But if Labour remains in power, WPLs – or alternatives such as local congestion charging - are likely to spread to the 11 cities identified by Fleet News.