Boots has described plans to ‘tax’ businesses on the parking spaces they provide as ‘outrageous’, as the number of critics to the controversial scheme grow.

Nottingham City Council was given the green light by the Government to impose the workplace parking levy 10 months after initially mooting the scheme. It says the levy will help fund its £150 million contribution to extensions of the Nottingham tram system.

The annual charge of £253 per space will apply to organisations that provide 11 or more parking spaces and would rise to £350 per space after two years.

However, given the current economic situation the Department for Transport has delayed implementing the scheme until April, 2012. Instead, it has allocated a further £13 million on top of the £517 million previously pledged.

“We find it outrageous that the city council has been given the go ahead to introduce a workplace parking levy following the influential Transport Select Committee's report that said the evidence given to them by the city council suggested that the consultation with business was deeply flawed,” explained Peter Gibson, director of public policy at Alliance Boots.

“This will put an additional tax burden of over £500,000 a year on our business at a time when Nottingham businesses, workers and households will be recovering from a deep recession.”

The Boots site has 3,000 spaces within the city council’s boundary where the charge applies, but a further 1,500 under Nottinghamshire County Council’s jurisdiction where it doesn’t.

It is calling for a public inquiry on the scheme and says it is also considering moving all of its spaces to fall within the county council’s boundary.

Other critics of the scheme include the Chamber of Commerce, the Conservatives and ACFO, which say it’s an extra burden on business when they can least afford it.

“I have a major concern that this will be the start of other councils adopting the same practice and ultimately forcing businesses to re-consider where their offices are located,” added ACFO chairman Julie Jenner.

However, Jenner did not think it would impact on fleet numbers in the Nottingham area, but admitted it was possible charges could be passed on to individual employees.

Cllr Jane Urquhart, Nottingham City Council’s portfolio holder for transport, said: “The fact that we have over two years before the workplace parking levy is implemented gives us the opportunity to work with businesses to help them develop more sustainable transport policies, encourage behavioural change and reduce congestion.”

 

 

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