Plans for Leicester city-wide workplace parking levy scrapped

The city council said the economic outlook had changed since it first proposed a levy

Plans to introduce a working parking levy in Leicester have been scrapped, the city council has confirmed.

The authority was proposing a scheme that would have seen firms with more than 10 parking spaces paying £550 a year for each space.

A similar model has been in place in Nottingham for about 10 years.

After more than 4,000 people responded to a consultation, Leicester City Council said the current economic picture had led to plans being shelved.

'Uncertainty and concern'

Councillor Adam Clarke, deputy city mayor, said not pursuing the policy meant the council "won't have the funding needed to radically improve public transport", adding it "will continue to focus on cleaning the air and reducing Leicester's carbon footprint".

"We could not foresee the political uncertainty and dire economic situation the country is facing today [when a levy was first proposed]," he said.

"We have concluded that we cannot implement a [levy] during this ongoing national cost-of-living crisis, which is causing such uncertainty and concern for so many people and businesses."

Richard Taylor, from the trade union GMB - which opposed the plans - welcomed the council's decision.

"A workplace parking levy is a backwards and un-progressive solution to the problems [Leicester] faces, pushing the burden of Conservative government cuts to council budgets on to the working people that keep our city running," he added.