A scheme to reduce congestion in the city centre could see some motorists taxed for ‘driving into work.’
Bristol City Council has confirmed it is “researching a Workplace Parking Levy approach” which could see city centre companies billed for parking spaces, but motoring groups say the costs will be largely passed onto staff. The scheme was initially discussed in Bristol ten years ago, but the council says it has “fallen behind other cities in its implementation.”
It is hoped the scheme will reduce traffic and pollution, while boosting finances for public transport projects. Levies are being considered in more than a dozen towns and cities in England, including in Birmingham, Brighton and Oxford. A spokesperson for the council told Bristol Live: "We are currently researching a Workplace Parking Levy approach. No decisions have been taken on whether to introduce one or not."
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According to the Mirror, Bristol is said to be considering a charge of £400 per space, while some places could see a charge of up to £1000. It follows a full council meeting in November, where members called on the administration to formally commit to the scheme for Bristol, and publish a delivery plan.
In Nottingham, the only English city which has introduced the model so far, there is a charge of £428 per space, but this will rise to £458 from April. It’s understood more than half of the costs have been passed on to staff. The AA has called the parking charge a “poll tax on wheels” while the RAC said it is effectively “tax on going to work.”
RAC roads policy chief Nicholas Lyes said: “The cost will almost certainly be passed down to workers, so in effect it becomes a tax on a person going to work. “This especially affects lower-paid workers who may not have any other way of getting to work.”
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Meanwhile AA spokesman Luke Bosdet told the Mail : “The levy is really just a poll tax on wheels that not only raids workers’ pay packets, while trying to place the blame on employers, but hits the lower-paid hardest. “Councils try to justify this tax as a way of raising money for their pet transport projects.”
It comes as the council has confirmed the city’s Clean Air Zone will launch in September. Designed to curb traffic air pollution, the Clean Air Zone will see drivers of older, more polluting vehicles - an estimated 75,000 a day - charged to enter a small zone in the city centre.
The council has previously said that it estimates that about three in 10 vehicles in Bristol will attract the charges, which were set at £9 for smaller vehicles and £100 a day for larger vehicles. The spokesperson said: "We’re still on track for late summer as we advised during the government investment announcement last year. September is the likely start date as it stands which is within the timeframe agreed with government as announced last year."
The spokesperson said: "We’re still on track for late summer as we advised during the government investment announcement last year. September is the likely start date as it stands which is within the timeframe agreed with government as announced last year."
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