Sarah Boyack was keen on this at the start of the first Scottish Parliament.
Piece in current Private Eye -
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R O A D R A G E
Parking clots
LAUNCHING an economic plan in Derby last week, chancellor George Osborne trumpeted road schemes and city devolution - but not the workplace parking levy which is giving nearby Nottingham a hefty transport boost.
Free parking at work encourages commuters to choke rush-hour roads and pollute city air with their cars and to ignore alternatives like cycling and public transport. In 2012, Nottingham city council introduced Britain's first workplace parking levy (WPL), payable by firms with more than 10 parking spaces. Th annual charge is now £375 per space, which firms can recoup from staff if they like.
Income from the levy is reserved for transport. It has already helped Nottingham build two tram lines (expected to open this summer), improve its main rail station and amass Europe's biggest electric bus fleet (excluding trolleybus fleets that run overhead power cables). WPL money has sustained bus services for commuters, shoppers and hospital visitors, while elsewhere in Britain cash-strapped councils have axed hundreds of bus services.
Labour authorised Nottingham's WPL in 2009, despite the Institute of Directors warning the levy would be "bad for the competitiveness of local businesses". The CBI moaned "It will not help congestion, will not pay for the schemes the council thinks it will and places businesses hit by the levy at an unfair disadvantage". The region's chamber of commerce was certain the levy "will cost jobs and it will force businesses to rethink their situations".
In 2009, chemist-shop chain Alliance Boots, then fresh from shifting its nominal HQ from Nottingham to a Swiss tax haven, demanded an immediate public inquiry into the government's "outrageous" consent for the WPL. Despite exemption for small firms, even the Federation of Small Business saying local suppliers would suffer if the levy made large employers relocate.
Taking all this as gospel, senior Tories used an early day motion in 2009 to demand the WPL be annulled. David Cameron signed and transport secretary Theresa Villiers warned of the impact on jobs. To his credit, Tory transport secretary Philip Hammond declined to know the WPL in 2010, explaining that "localism" resulted in councils doing things which "are not alway in accordance with our own preferences and priorities".
That must have dismayed local MP and staunch WPL opponent Anna Soubry, who had lots to say about the profound effect on businesses before the WPL began. Since then she has been rather quieter, perhaps because, er, no employers moved out of Nottingham in response to the levy. Indeed the citiy's economy has grown, broadly in line with Britain's, and new business start-ups there rocketed by 36 percent in 2013.
The WPL might help Nottingham attract new employers as it is a clear defence against Osbornian austerity for the city's vital public transport. It hasn't triggered the feared economic meltdown – so how much longer will it take the Tories to change tack and encourage other cities to consider WPLs?
'Hedgehog'
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