THE Government has denied reports that taxes on workplace parking will definitely feature in its transport white paper. Speculation of a levy on private, non-residential parking has increased following the leak of Government papers.

But a spokesman for the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions insisted the transport white paper was not even at draft stage, and that the Government was still studying the 6,500 submissions it received during the consultation process. Civil servants have synthesised these submissions into a series of papers for ministers to consider, explaining the ideas and commenting on their viability.

The DETR spokesman confirmed that one of these papers does concern workplace parking, but said it was this paper, rather than any draft of the white paper, which had fallen into the hands of the press, and been reported out of context. 'John Prescott has not even looked at a draft white paper, let alone approved it,' he said.