AFTER years of speculation on whether Cardiff Council will implement a congestion charge for cars within the city the idea now looks highly unlikely to go ahead.
Instead the Labour-led local authority appears set to back a plan for a workplace parking levy (WPL) instead which would see bus travel in the city subsidised by fees charged to employers for the parking spaces they provide.
So what exactly is a WPL, who will be affected by it, how much will it cost, and which other UK cities have one?
What is a workplace parking levy?
A WPL is an annual charge paid by certain businesses to the council based on the number of employee parking spaces.
The scheme is designed to encourage workers in the city to travel either by walking, cycling, or using public transport.
The money raised by the levy is ring-fenced to fund public transport projects in the local authority area such as bus routes and cycle lanes.
Do other places already have a workplace parking levy?
Currently the only city in the UK that has implemented a WPL is Nottingham, which introduced it in 2011.
However other cities such as Bristol and Oxford have both outlined plans to bring one in in the future.
How much will businesses pay ?
Plans for the potential Cardiff levy are currently in the very early stages with no fixed figures as of yet.
In Nottingham, a city which is repeatedly referenced in council material as a model to emulate, the cost per workplace parking space is set as £592 per year for employers who provide 11 or more liable places (excluding disabled blue badge holders).
While the number for Cardiff is not set council documents have as “assumed”, for “the purposes of analysis” the cost to be £750 for each employer-provided parking place “which would be subject to increase annually”.
However, according to the council, “the levy has been applied for the purposes of transport, cost, and financial modelling of the impacts and is subject to change”.
In the Nottingham scheme employers with 10 or fewer liable workplace parking places must still obtain a WPL licence but will receive a 100% discount on those 10 places making them effectively free.
VAT is not payable on WPL charges but if an employer passes the charge onto an employee then it is subject to VAT.
There are some exemptions from the WPL. In addition to blue badge spots and businesses with 10 or fewer spaces there are also exemptions for emergency services and eligible NHS premises as well as motorcycles, delivery vehicles, and parking for occasional visitors.
Any such rules for Cardiff would not be guaranteed to be the same but it is likely to be very similar if not the same.
How much money will it raise and why does the council prefer this option?
According to council documents the potential levy is expected to raise somewhere in the region of £10m per year, which would increase the funding available for transport investment by approximately 40%.
The council has selected this as its preferred option due to its “low public and business impact” and being “simpler to enact” from a legislative perspective. They say it would be “faster to deliver” and “easier to implement” with no significant infrastructure required. It would have an estimated set-up cost of between £3m and £5m and, according to the cCoouncil, a low operating cost.
When will we know what’s happening?
The levy – alongside the suggestion for a congestion charge and a ‘do nothing’ alternative – looks set to be part of a consultation that will go out to residents and businesses this summer pending a council cabinet meeting on Thursday, July 16.
