President
Paying to park?
It is vital for our members to provide their views on proposals for the introduction of a workplace car parking levy in Glasgow
TAKING THE PULSE OF OUR members is an essential task for me as President of the Chamber. Our Chamber Forums, set up last year, are proving to be excellent new channels where issues affecting our members are raised. At a recent meeting of the Chamber’s Council of Directors, both the Place Forum and the Glasgow Employment and Skills Board reported their concern about the introduction of a workplace car parking levy. The levy is a proposal that was
raised during the negotiations to agree the Scottish Budget and has been included in the Transport Bill. The Bill is working its way through the Parliament where it will enter its final stages after the summer recess. The levy could affect any business offering car parking places at their premises for workers, customers or visitors but it will be for local authorities to decide whether the levy should be raised and on what basis. A levy scheme is currently in place in Nottingham, for example, which sets a charge of £415 per space on all workplace car parks with more than 10 spaces. Often the charge is passed on to the employees who use the spaces. The Chamber team is advising me that a steady stream of members, often with premises outside the city centre have been asking whether Glasgow is likely to introduce such a levy. As we understand it, the City Council has taken no decision in advance of the legislation completing its passage through Parliament, but we are aware that there is some support for its introduction among some senior City Councillors. The most recent relevant
report for the Council came from the Glasgow Connectivity Commission which acknowledged the dominance of the car in Glasgow’s post-war planning and argued for a comprehensive set of
Improve the public transport system before any blunt fiscal sticks are used to reduce car use"
measures to place more emphasis on good quality, affordable and widely accessible public transport. The Chamber has been clear in supporting the Connectivity Commission’s conclusions. Those conclusions did not include support for the early introduction of a workplace parking levy but rather suggested that its role should be further researched for future consideration. The Commission argued vigorously for investments in the quality of the city’s bus services, in the development of a Metro system and for expansion of capacity on the rail services, acknowledging that bus services were not as good as they could be and that our rail system is reaching capacity at important hub stations. Those most poorly served by the current system are often in our most disadvantaged communities. We support the Commission’s views. We therefore believe that the current emphasis must be on delivering improvements to the public transport system before any blunt fiscal sticks are used to reduce car use. Our focus must be on the design and funding of those improvements whether through the national budgets for transport or through exploring private sector funding options for proposals like the Metro. We have submitted our views to that end to the Scottish Government’s Infrastructure Commission.
At this point we will be arguing against any early introduction of a workplace parking levy in Glasgow. Until the Commission’s recommendations are delivered, we believe there will be far too many examples of employees who will have no adequate alternatives to their car for getting to work. We intend to consult further with members as this discussion develops.
Jim McHarg, President president@glasgowchamber
ofcommerce.com
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www.glasgowchamberofcommerce.com
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