Birmingham businesses face £500-a-year charge for private parking spaces
Businesses who offer their staff a free parking space may soon have to pay for it.
Plans from the City Council, on the Workplace Parking Levy, are due to go before cabinet next week.
Though still at an early stage, the proposals could see employees forced to pay an annual fee to park their own cars in their workplace car parks – if the charges are passed down by their employers.
The council says that the proposals, which would cost just under £1 million to introduce, could help generate approximately £7.2 million per year in charges.
This funding would be used to help fund a package of transport schemes that the council wishes to introduce, including (but not limited to):
- A metro extension to East Birmingham and Birmingham Airport.
- Pedestrianisation of the city centre and Moor Street.
- Snow Hill growth strategy, including transformation of the A38 and investment in public transport.
- Cycle routes and canal improvements
- Travel demand management (behavioural change activities to enable sustainable travel).
If the proposals are agreed, the council will start a consultation which will include local businesses.
It's thought the levy, which is currently in place in Nottingham, would not be introduced until at least 2023.
Schools, hospitals, and health services could be exempt from the charge, as well as low emission vehicles.
Papers from next week’s cabinet meeting put the annual cost per vehicle (based on Nottingham’s current policy) as starting at £500 in 2023/24 and rising to £609 by 2033/34, raising an estimated £88.75 million over a ten year period.
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