Councils’ workplace parking fee scheme
Monday 23rd August 2010, 11:29AM BST.
Councils across the country are pushing ahead with plans to charge for parking at workplaces, it was disclosed today.
Authorities including Bristol, York, Devon, Hampshire, Leeds, Bournemouth, South Somerset and Wiltshire are considering introducing levies in an effort to raise funds and cut congestion, according to reports.
But Telford & Wrekin Council today said it had “no plans” to introduce a parking levy in the borough.
And Martin Withington, Shropshire Council’s head of transportation, said: “We currently have no plans to look at a workplace parking levy.”
The news comes despite ministers pledging to end what they described as Labour’s “war on motorists” within days of coming to power. An estimated 10 million people drive to work every day, and they could potentially face fees of hundreds of pounds a year each.
Nottingham City Council is due to be the first council to impose a levy, with all employers offering more than 11 spaces for staff charged £250 for each one.
It will be up to companies whether they pass the cost on. Under proposals being considered by York City Council, the charge would be paid “by the employer or charged to the employee”.
In Leeds, officials view the levy as an “important consideration in formulating a long-term strategy”.
A Hampshire County Council consultation document says it is considering a “modest” — but unspecified — charge for the south of the region, including Southampton and Portsmouth, to “redress the imbalance between free commuter parking for some staff at office complexes” and “parking for other staff in public spaces where payment is required”.
A spokesman for South Somerset District Council said: “Looking at reducing car travel to offices is something we are required to do, and the possibility of introducing some form of parking levy is one of many ideas that have been floated within our council.
“In London, a number of councils are said to be attending a seminar next month that has a workplace parking levy on the agenda. Authorities in Milton Keynes, Cambridge and Oxford have all previously expressed an interest.
By Russell Roberts
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That is quite a shame, I don’t think the idea was part of a war on motorists but a way of raising money to improve public transport. I remember correctly a parking levy is helping to fund Nottingham’s new tram network.
I wish Telford’s council was as forward thinking.
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Tsk tsk!
All those ‘Communications Officers’ employed by Shropshire Council and STILL no one was available for comment?!
Presumably the answer would have been: ‘Yes we are to charge our employees for parking but we haven’t worked out how to break the news to them yet….”
:-)
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Yes but what they mean here is that the Libcons are in reality no different to the ex Labs !!! :0 Griped a lot but are now going to do the same things as when we were under Brown. (without the funding public transport bit though)
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Its ok for council officers because if they have to pay they are likely to claim it back from the poor tax payer.
This really is crazy.
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You really have no idea. We aren’t MP’s. If you think we could claim this back you are living in cloud cuckoo land. We don’t have expense accounts!
Oh, and we are tax payers too, with exactly the same powers as you to decide how our taxes are spent (i.e. little to none)!
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No John, what is crazy is that people such as yourself spout this kind of rubbish with absolutely nothing to back it up.
Do you have evidence to confirm your statement? No – silly me; of course you haven’t, because there’s no truth in it whatsoever.
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john you are lying
i work in the public sector at the hospital, i pay to park at work even when im on nights and i dont claim it back, i dont even have a mechanism to claim it back, there are no travel claims forms for nurses!
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I assume that if there is no “staff” parking left as in at the RSH after 9.00am you have to pay to park in the plentifull public car park, otherwise its fine>?
Happened to a friend of mine who works there, pays £120 a year to CP Plus, had a dental appointment got to work, no staff spaces left, parked on a verge and was slapped with a fine, likewise others too.
Theres no claiming it back either.
Thankfully i’ll never vote Libdems again.
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I will now use another news story to launch another unrelated and irrelevant attack on the Conservative and Liberal Coalition government.
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So what about those who car share?
I’m the only driver in our household. I drop my partner at work(approx 16 miles away, aswell as dropping my son with childcare (parents as I can’t afford full-time nursery fees) and then sometimes I give a lift to other colleagues, yet I will be the one subject to a parking fee???
Are we trying to encourage people to work, or stay at home?
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Some may not have this story correctly.
It is not about Local Councils charging public sector workers to park in council car-parks.
It is about a levy or a rate or a Tax being imposed on a business that provides car parking for its employees. If there are more than 11 spaces.
So work for co. A with 8 spaces and no charge, co. B 15 spaces total charge of £3,750 per year. So employer has a number of choices,
1 Reduce the parking space to less then 11.
2 Pay the charge and absorb the cost
3 pay the charge and pass it on to employees (very popular)
4 pay the charge and pass it on to customers.
If the money raised was used to improve public transport reducing the need to travel by car to work all well and good.
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Difficult to see how employers could pass this on as a direct charge to employees without offering a guarantee of a daily parking space. Most employers provide some parking (but not enough for all their employees)and it’s unlikely anyone would pay for a space on the off chance they might get one.
In any case, in a lot of jobs these days, unless you’re working fixed hours the option of public transport doesn’t exist in reality.
This is another idea which hasn’t quite been thought through… it will simply result in more people having to pay to park privately away from their workplace, or cluttering the streets surrounding workplaces with vehicles.
And of course, it’s yet another proposed tax which hits the poor harder than the rich – I can’t see too many senior execs and company bosses giving up their reserved spaces – can you?
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Abbey Foregate businesses will suffer when the staff will choose to park free up the side roads.
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I bet council employees will not have to pay.
As for eva lands comment what side roads?
I have been a juror twice and if there are no spaces at the shirehall there is no room on any road side or otherwse,spaces are taken by
residents and or shirehall workers or there are yellow lines, and that was five years ago.
One CANNOT be late for jury service.
I have offten wondered why shirehall do not provide allocated parking for jurors?
Afterall it is regular event.
The council are trying to eliminate any free parking on many roads around Shrewsbury.
This is to force people to use their car parks,and pay workplace charges when introduced.
Rarther undemocratic i think.
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In Shrewsbury, and I imagine in Telford, Council Officers and Members are afforded a substantial tax free perk of free on-site parking.
Charge them, introduce residents parking within one mile radius of their headquarters and sell off the staff car-parks; and then maybe, just maybe, the integrated transport folk may just get to sort out a decent public transport system.
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Bill,
In a great number of private companies staff are also awarded the ‘perk’ of free parking.
I can also think of many public sector employees working in city centres or in hospitals etc. around the country who have to pay to park just as many private sector employees do.
I don’t doubt if councils are allowed to tax employers for providing spaces, then just as private sector employers may try to pass this cost on to their employees, so councils may pass this on to theirs.
The tax would apply to all employers, public or private.
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I like to park my car in the “Perk Car Park” – it’s good value.
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what about the thousands of workers who park on battlefield enterprise park every day, that place is like 50 acres of concrete, should charge them all £5 a day and make millions! As for councils workers well once 25% of them have been sacked that will free up some spaces!
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typical us real workers in the private sector pay through the nose to park and yet the council who we pay their wages get free parking at work – we are being ripped off by these parasites
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Adel, this is rubbish. If you actually take the time to read the article to which you are adding comments you will see that the scheme being discussed (which according to the article neither T&W nor Shropshire Councils have plans to introduce) will apply to all employers, private sector or public sector, who provide more than 11 car park spaces for their employees. Therefore in areas where local councils have chosen to adopt the scheme (such as Nottingham) any business with more that 11 staff spaces will have a charge levied upon them. It says nothing about council works (or public sector staff in general) not being charged.
Plus, it is worth remembering that not all public sector employees currently park for free, and not all private sector workers have to pay. Some do and some don’t regardless of which sector they work.
And one final note, if you work in the private sector, who do you think pays your wages? The very same people who pay those of the public sector of course. . . . except they don’t pay for them out of their council tax, they pay for them out of the money they spend on the services/products your company provides (for a price that your company decides). . . . and I think the only time that you can really refer to the public sector a being a parasite, is when many of the private sector companies stop recording record breaking profits during a period of supposed economic downturn.
Make no mistake, we all pay your wages Adel, even us public sector workers, but as I have no idea of how hard you may or may not work for them, I will reserve my judgement on whether you (a) deserve them or (b) are a parasite. Perhaps you should do the same, especially when you are without all of the facts.
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i can assure you as a public sector employee we all pay to park at the hospital which is a source of much frustration to staff
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