No space for workplace parking levy

The Voice of the North

Such is the parlous state of council finances, any chance offered by ministers to swell the coffers by many millions must come as a sore temptation.

Aberdeenshire is the latest to make hard choices about what to cut that have passed well beyond the uncomfortable and instead into the truly alarming.

Yet the authority – along with a city neighbour faced with equally unenviable decisions – has swerved the opportunity to introduce a workplace parking levy.

There is undoubtedly an element of politics at play: the degree of fury expressed by their national parties against the proposal left no room for manoeuvre.

But there are more fundamental reasons behind the reluctance to turn to commuters for extra funds.

On paper the idea of a virtuous circle where the levy pays for better public transport which in turn takes cars off the road is attractive.

But translating that into practice in a vast rural area appears a very tall order.

And even for urban areas, there remain significant questions about a still-vague policy introduced in haste in order to get the minority Scottish Government’s budget over the line.

Not least about the implications for the very workers tasked with delivering council services while the axe hangs threateningly above them.

However useful the revenue might be, this is not a policy whose time has come.

“Any chance to swell the coffers by many millions must come as a sore temptation”