Workplace parking survey launched

CITY employers are being surveyed about the number of off-street parking places they provide.

Nottingham City Council is carrying out the study to ensure its records on workplace parking are up to date.

The last survey was done in 2005, and since then new employers have moved to Nottingham, while others may have closed or changed premises.

The information will be used to help the council develop the business model for the workplace parking levy (WPL) scheme.

However, the council said the data will not be used to work out how much the WPL will cost individual employers.

It is holding discussions with representatives from the business community to ensure local employers will benefit from the construction of NET Phase Two – the extensions to the tram network. The WPL will help fund this development.

Conservative leader David Cameron has made an early day motion in Parliament in the hope of scrapping the rules which would allow Nottingham's workplace parking levy to be set up.

NET director Pat Armstrong said: "While the WPL is clearly never going to be universally popular, there seems to be a growing acceptance of it within the Nottingham business community.

"We are having more positive discussions with employers about the supply chain benefits to the local economy from the NET Phase Two construction."

The WPL will also help fund the redevelopment of the railway station and support the council's subsidised Link bus network which takes workers to key employment sites such as Boots.

Employers will need to be licensed for the WPL in October 2011 and charging will start in April 2012.

WPL project manager Jason Gooding said: "One of our key priorities is to keep employers informed about progress with the WPL.

"We will be maintaining regular contact with them between now and when the licensing process begins in October 2011 to explain the necessary steps they will have to take to prepare for the introduction of the WPL."