Call to axe workplace parking tax proposals
IT’S NOT TIME TO ABANDON THE IDEA, ARGUES DEPUTY MAYOR
PROPOSALS to bring in a tax on Leicester companies’ parking spaces should be scrapped in the light of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a critic of the idea.
Leicester City Council is drawing up proposals for a workplace parking levy (WPL) which it said could generate a long-term source of funding – potentially millions of pounds a year – to pay for public transport improvements.
The Labour council said that money would be invested in improving bus services to provide a viable alternative to car use that would cut congestion on Leicester’s traffic-choked roads.
It could follow in the footsteps of Nottingham which introduced a WPL eight years ago to fund its tram system.
However, Liberal Democrat councillor Nigel Porter said the pandemic had shifted the landscape of the city centre and urged the council to drop the idea.
He said: “I wasn’t convinced this levy was a good idea when the council first suggested it and I think it is an even worse one now.
“Covid has changed our city centres, more people are successfully working from home rather than commuting.
“Companies will let their offices go rather than keep unnecessary overheads like rent and rates and that will mean fewer work parking spaces to tax.
“It only works in Nottingham because they have a tram system.
“Leicester’s plan never had any such ambition. It only wants buses.
“By pursuing this it will be ignoring the obvious and showing again that it cannot be nimble.”
Deputy mayor Councillor Adam Clarke said no decisions had been taken and there would be a full public consultation before any tax was introduced.
However, he said it was not the time to abandon the idea.
He said: “We have people looking at the feasibility of the workplace parking levy and the potential parameters of the levy to support our objective of providing regular funding to radically improve the city’s transport.
“The future is a bit of an unknown because of Covid and we will bear that in mind. But when you start looking at the potential impact of a vaccine you can start to see a world where people will return to working in city centres.”
He said the research carried out would inform any future public consultation.
“Of course, the impact of Covid will be reflected on what we finally put to the public to show the benefit or otherwise of introducing the levy,” Coun Clarke said.
“We do know there are businesses which are really keen to have quality city centre office space and that there was, pre-Covid, an undersupply of office space.
“Things will change from the current position but will things change so radically it makes a workplace parking levy unviable?
“There is no evidence to suggest that yet and if the levy can achieve what we think it will still, then why would we not continue to investigate its potential?”
The city council is planning a formal consultation on its long-term transport proposals in March and April which, said the deputy mayor, will then set the direction of the conversation about the workplace parking levy.
So far, the council has not set out any firm plans on how a WPL would function in Leicester but has used Nottingham’s model as a loose template.
Any organisation with 11 or more parking spaces might be liable to the tax but key workers would likely be exempted.
Leicester City Council has also suggested a charge of just over £400 a year per space, in line with Nottingham.
The inner ring road has been suggested as a potential boundary to the zone within which the levy would apply.
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