Road pricing campaign news

Title: Anger as Nottingham gets go-ahead to introduce WPL
Date: 31/07/2009
URL:

Preview: Transport Minister Sadiq Khan announced this morning that Nottingham will become the first area in the country to introduce charges for parking spaces at your place of work. These schemes are known as WPL or Workplace Parking Levy's.

Starting in April 2012, businesses in Nottingham with more than 10 parking places will be charged £185 for every space. It is likely most companies will pass these charges onto their employees as recommended by the government meaning a charge of £15.50 a month deducted from wages. The WPL will increase to £350 a year or £30 a month by 2014.

Workplace parking charges have been adopted by government after the rejection of road pricing and congestion charges following the the 1.8 Million petition on the Downing Street website.

The referendum in Manchester where 79% of voters rejected the charge also proved the public are not behind these schemes. 

Charging to park at work is seen by government as a form of...

 'demand management' and a way of raising finance for public transport; in this case the extension of the tram in Nottingham.

However, large companies such as Boots based on the outskirts of the city will not benefit but will still be expected pick up the bill.

If they then decide to pass this charge onto employees who cannot use public transport they will be forced subsidise the fare of passengers who can.

It is estimated that if rolled out across the country, over £3 Billion would be raised from motorists parking at work.

Councils in Milton Keynes, Exeter, Cambridge and Oxford have expressed interest in the scheme.

The Core Cities Group, which represents Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield, has also expressed interest, identifying the levy's “congestion-busting” potential.

Richard Hebditch at the Campaign for Better Transport welcomes the scheme.

Theresa Villiers, the Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Transport condemned the charge saying:
 
'At a time when jobs are under threat and businesses are under huge pressure, it is wrong to hit enterprise in Nottingham with a workplace parking levy,' she said.'

These new charges will be a real blow to the city and we oppose them.'
 
Further reports:

Telegraph - With comment from Peter Roberts of the Drivers' Alliance,
Daily Mail
Daily Express

DA Comment:
WPL is yet another thinly disguised attack on the motorist and indeed the very freedoms we hold so dear in this country.

How can it be right for a local council to charge anyone for a parking space when it is on private land and already suffers from excessive business rates. Workplace parking charges will not reduce congestion and will not encourage people onto public transport and why should it?

As citizens on the UK, we expect our elected politicians to be honest, open and act on the wishes of the majority. Nottingham's Labour controlled council has shown it is in complete denial of the wishes of the city - much like Manchester's Labour council before they were forced into a referendum.

The only way such an attack on personal liberty and freedom can be acceptable is through the will of the electorate and the only way this can be determined is through a fair and balanced debate before asking people's views in a referendum.

Nottingham council has refused to do this as they know they would lose.

Drivers' already pay enough in taxes and charges to use the roads. We should not be expected to subsidise the fares of tram and bus passengers.