COMPANIES face draconian measures to cut car use including annual workplace parking charges of up to £5,000 per space under radical new proposals for reducing road traffic in London. The initiatives, which also include the implementation of congestion charging and road-user charging, are needed if traffic conditions in the capital are to be improved, according to a report by the London Planning Advisory Committee (LPAC).

Such charges could raise nearly £1 billion from the estimated 600,000 to one million company car parking spaces in the capital. It has already raised fears that businesses will suffer and drivers will simply put up with the new charges, rather than stay off the roads. But the proposed road traffic reduction strategy for London says pricing non-essential car users off the road is the only way to achieve huge traffic reductions it believes are needed to improve air quality and the standard of living for residents. Companies and fleets would benefit through reduced traffic jams enabling them to work more effectively, it says.

Targets for traffic reduction are biggest in central London, where the report says a cut of 40% is needed, dropping to 10% on the outskirts and averaging 15% overall. The cornerstone of the proposals would be new powers being introduced in the Greater London Authority Bill which would give the new London mayor authority to introduce the first road-user charging and workplace parking charges in the country. The scheme gives the first clear indication of what fleets throughout the country might face if the go-ahead is given to nationwide implementation of the Government's proposals, introduced in the white paper on integrated transport.