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The Robin Hood spirit is alive in Nottingham as the council targets workplace parking to pay for public transport
Words: Patric Cunnane
More than a decade after its introduction by Labour, a little known provision of the Transport Act 2000 has emerged as a potential cost to operators governed by authorities outside London,
The first workplace parking levy (WPL) is being introduced by Nottingham City Council and other councils facing tough financial restraints are likely to follow suit.
Nottingham City Council says the WPL will cost businesses more than /250 a year for each car parking place they provide for staff in excess of 10 places.
A spokesman says the charge will only apply to businesses within the city of Nottingham and not to Greater Nottingham. The WP11,:s purpose is to cut congestion by encouraging employees to travel to work by public transport.
Bristol. York and Hampshire councils are also believed to be considering a scheme, according to reports in the Daily Telegraph.
Dave Palmer, MD of D&D Transport, Langley Mill, Nottingham is outside the affected area but believes the scheme is wrong. "There's not much more to charge a levy on," he says. "You are being charged to come to work and you are being charged while you're at work.The industry is taxed enough without levying a further charge."
Nottingham City Council says the scheme will cost £253 per place in 2012, the proposed year of introduction, rising to 006 from 2015 with future rises inflation linked. All businesses will require a workplace parking licence, even if they use fewer than 10 spaces. Charges will only apply to spaces used since the aim is to cut the number of employees driving to work.The council says the scheme will raise i14m over 23 years and the money is earmarked for investment in public transport.
The industry fears operators will vote with their feet. Anton Balkitis, road transport lawyer with Nottinghambased Rothera Dowson, says: -There is a real fear that operators and other businesses will move outside the area when their leases are up, The WPL is an additional cost for transport operators in Nottingham placing them at a competitive disadvantage."
He adds that some operators may pass the cost on to their drivers "What about drivers that start work early or those on night shifts? It could be a real cost for HGV drivers who have to take their cars to work when there is no public transport. There appears to be no dispensation for night and shift workers.
Gordon Telling, Freight Transport Association head of urban logistics, says: "If you levy a charge either you
expect the drivers to pay, in which case wage demands rise, or the employer pays and the business has less money for the Treasury. The long-term consequences are that there will be things these businesses cannot afford to do."
Chrys Rampley, manager infrastructure, Road Haulage Association, says: "We don't want a new tax that burdens business." She believes some businesses may offer to pay the parking charge as an extra benefit when recruiting staff. Others may consider car sharing pools to avoid it.
The Forum of Private Business believes the parking levy may be the thin end of the wedge. "The danger is that the WPL could open the floodgates to a raft of new taxes being levied onto companies to pay for things which were previously paid for through general taxation," says spokesman. Chris Gorman. "This proposal comes as small businesses are battling with economic uncertainty, public spending cuts and worrying levels of inflation."
The government is monitoring the development but seems in no mood to scrap the provision. They have simply said they will look at the criteria for how local authorities introduce further WPLs.