Perry sends workplace parking charges proposal to cabinet – Inside Croydon

EXCLUSIVE: City Hall reporter KEN LEE on the Tory mayor’s latest behind-the-scenes proposals to raise taxes on neighborhood drivers and businesses.

Tucked away in the fine print of volumes of reports and documents to be presented at tonight’s council cabinet meeting at City Hall is a short, almost throwaway paragraph that shows the borough’s Tory mayor, Jason Perry, wants to introduce new charges for Croydon. employers who provide parking spaces for their staff.

If the green and anti-pollution proposals are introduced, Croydon workers could be charged hundreds of pounds every year just for parking their cars at work.

Paragraph 4.11 of tonight’s cabinet report ‘Recommendations Arising from Scrutiny’, from a meeting of the Streets and Environment Scrutiny Sub-Committee, states: “The Sub-Committee was encouraged that the council will consider the possible adoption of workplace parking charges (WPL) and asked to be kept informed of this activity as it developed.”

A workplace parking charge, or WPL for acronym fetishists, is a charge on employers who provide workplace parking, a type of congestion charging scheme.

In black and white: proposals submitted to council scrutiny committee reveal Perry council looking at workplace parking charges

Legislation enabling such charges has been in place for nearly a quarter of a century and was introduced at the same time London got its first congestion charging zone at the turn of the century. The WPL fee is charged to employers with 11 or more parking spaces. Employers can choose to pay themselves or pass the cost on to employees.

By law, any revenue must be spent on transportation improvements to increase options for commuters.

WPLs are another form of car charging designed to reduce the use of private vehicles and get more people walking, cycling or using public transport to get to work, reducing congestion on our roads and toxic pollution in our atmosphere.

Hypocritical: Jason Perry

The hypocrisy of the car-loving mayor of Croydon, Jason Perry, considering such a money-making move while at around the same time campaigning alongside Tory London mayoral candidate Susan Hall, spreading misinformation about the ULEZ extension and making wild assertions of non-existence. pay-by-the-mile proposals will not be lost on council opposition Labor and especially Green councillors.

While the possibility of WPLs has been included in the statute since 2000, few local authorities have implemented them. So far.

Leicester, Reading, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cambridge, Bristol, Oxford and, in London, Hounslow and Camden have been reported to be considering their own WPL schemes, either across the authority or in parts of their area. All are looking for ways to improve air quality and meet emissions targets, while raising money to invest in sustainable transport projects.

To date, Nottingham is the only city in the country to introduce a WPL. Nottingham’s rate is £415 per parking space per year, which in the 10 years since it was introduced in 2012 has generated around £90m, unlocking a further £600m from other investment in transport. Nottingham managed to build two tram line extensions with the money raised through the WPL.

In London, a WPL scheme can be established by Transport for London, or by a borough or by one or more boroughs working together. “A WPL scheme and a road user charging scheme, e.g. The Congestion Charge or the Ultra Low or Low Emission Zone may overlap,” TfL explains.

A council operating a WPL ‘may charge the occupier of the premises (usually the employer) for the number of places it provides which are occupied by employers, employees, agents, suppliers, business customers, business visitors, students and students who park there. in the course of their business or education’.

But TfL clarifies that “Non-commercial customer parking spaces are not subject to WPL licensing or charging”.

Tram lines: Nottingham City Council has invested tax revenue in two tram extensions

And they explain: “The employer is normally responsible for paying the license fee (and any penalty charges arising from the WPL…) if the parking spaces are provided by the employer, either on or off site .

“There is an opportunity for any individual employer to choose to pass the charge on to car commuters in a way that suits them.” Which is nice…

According to LocalGov.co.uk, the Nottingham WPL is “widely regarded as one of the UK’s most successful green transport interventions”.

Modeling by Nottingham City Council found that 70% of peak-time traffic was from people traveling to work, and this work-related traffic congestion was estimated to cost £170m per year in the loss of economic growth.

“Despite the usual predictions of economic disappointment and threats of an exodus of businesses and jobs…none of these warnings came to fruition,” reported LocalGov.co.uk.

“In the first five years of the WPL, Nottingham has seen a 22.2% increase in the number of businesses opening in the city, with real-time job growth of 23,400 and a 44.8% fall in unemployment.

And workplace parking charges have paid real dividends for Nottingham. “WPL has funded two new tram lines and an extra 17.5km of track,” says LocalGov.co.uk.

“And Nottingham (railway) station has been transformed into a 21st century integrated transport hub supporting routes on the Link Bus network.”

Read more: MP calls on Met to investigate Tory ‘vile scum’ groups
Read more: Perry should apologize for anti-ULEZ Facebook group, MP says
Read more: Perry stops parking cars in the downtown pedestrian zone
Read more: Ignore the ULEZ scare stories – it will reduce traffic and save lives

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