Councils expected to introduce £1,000-a-year workplace parking levies

By Matt de Prez
|
21 January 2019

Up to 10 local authorities could be planning to introduce workplace charging levies, which could cost employees up to £1,000 per year to park at work.

According to The AA, Hounslow Council is proposing to introduce a charge between £500 and £1,000 and nine other councils are considering similar measures.

The schemes are designed to reduce inner-city emissions and improve air quality by discouraging drivers from using their car to get to work.

Businesses can decide whether to swallow the costs or pass them on to employees.

Revenues raised by the levies can be used to improve public transport and fund new zero emission mobility solutions.

Currently, the only council to enforce a workplace parking levy is Nottingham.

The Nottingham scheme, which charges businesses £375 per space, has been in operation since 2012 and has raised £53.7 million, which has been used to improve Nottingham’s tram network and subsidise a public bike-share scheme.

Edinburgh and Glasgow councils are expected go ahead with the charge soon while Reading, Oxford, Bristol, Cambridge and the London boroughs of Merton, Brent and Camden are still considering the proposals.

“It is a good thing to put money into transport but workplace parking is a pretty blunt instrument,” AA president Edmund King told Forbes.

“The AA accepts that cities are under pressure to cut congestion and pollution. Trying to convince workers in cars to switch to public transport, walking or cycling therefore has to be considered. However, like the CO2-related residents parking permits that cost families hundreds of pounds and encouraged them to buy diesel vehicles, the unintended consequences of a workplace parking levy may be severe.”

Thee AA believes councils should encourage the take-up of electric and lower emission vehicles instead.

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Author: Matt de Prez

Senior staff writer

matt.deprez@bauermedia.co.uk

Matt has been an automotive journalist for eight years. As senior staff writer he is responsible for the automotive content on Fleet News and also contributes to Automotive Management. Prior to this, Matt worked in the automotive industry for 10 years.

Comments (3)

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Devon Guy - 21/01/2019 13:57

It would be interesting to see the chances of this being introduced in France, right now...! The yellow vests would already have blockaded all major motorways with (hijacked and burning) HGVS....! Many employees using their car to travel to work also use the car in the day to travel to clients, not so easy and efficient on a Boris bike! Additionally, many employers already charge employees to park at work. I pay over £1,000 per annum already. Presumably, this charge will be on top of that. This scheme is so poorly thought out and I fear result in greater labour supply issues for inner city employers, meaning those employers who can, will be forced to relocate out of these areas to attract quality staff. This will then bring further inner city desolation and, ironically, the COuncil will perversely suffer through lower Business rate income and increased social problems.At a time when Brexit could further reduce our workforce supply, why would this even be considered as having any legs?
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Staggered - 21/01/2019 18:23

Wow! not content with killing off the high street with high rates and parking charges, they now want to drive out office workers and their associated spending! Hopefully companies will vote with their feet when leases are up and move to less hostile locations and/or have more homeworking.
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rosco7 - 22/01/2019 16:16

Poorly thought out policy. I was working just inside the Nottingham area when they introduced the scheme. The business relocated to Derby, whose council seemed to be more interested and didn't put in punitive measures. I don't know why councils think this type of scheme is appropriate. All well and good encouraging public transport, but these schemes unfairly penalise people who don't have public transport options or impractical non car journeys. In the Nottingham example the money was meant to be for extending the tram to Clifton, yet the majority of people forced to pay the charge didn't live in Clifton, and in any case the charge was introduced before the tram was extended. For me councils introducing such schemes are anti business, and the loss of those businesses will be of greater significance than the money raised. Complete own goal, and shows the lack of intelligence and foresight present in some local authorities. At least with a congestion charge you only pay when you use it. As an aside, I remember one Nottingham company take all the parking bay markings off their car cark, and put up notices that there was no staff parking, but then didn't enforce the restriction. Never heard what happened, but this scheme is full of loopholes. And I wonder if police, fire and hospitals will be charged, let alone the council offices, whose union will make a big fuss.
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