It was reported on the 23rd of August 2010 that councils in some of the major cities in the UK are following suit after Nottingham to use the workplace parking levy as a means to raise funds and cut congestion.
The parking levy has been described by the new coalition government as Labour’s “war on motorists” and ministers assured that they would look at ways to dismantle this levy. However, it seems as though the authorities in Bristol, Devon, Bournemouth, Leeds, Hampshire, York, South Somerset and Wiltshire are likely to rebel against the proposition of the new government.
The Daily Telegraph reported that the councils were taking advantage of a scheme originally designed to reduce congestion and help the environment as a way of raising income to fund city projects. Some criticise the scheme and say that councils should look at other ways of raising finance implementing a more fair and transparent scheme.
Nottingham is the first council to introduce the parking levy scheme under which employers with more than 10 parking spaces will be charged £253 per space annually, with the charge projected to rise to £350 within the next two years. Other councils looking at a similar scheme may impose different regulations and charges.
Boots, the largest company in Nottingham, with over 3000 parking spaces, has protested against the levy and are threatening to relocate their parking allocation outside the city borough, which could deny the council 13.5% of the projected revenue in the first year. Other large companies might follow suit and eventually the entire scheme could prove counter-productive to the city council - we just have to wait and see.
The Department for Transport has commented that any parking levy scheme would have to be approved by them first, and that none of the cities have approached them yet. Furthermore, they feel that it is the responsibility of the local authorities to fully assess the consequences of the proposed levy before any such proposals are made by valuing the input and feedback from the employers and public in the area.
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