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Workplace Parking Levy - Boots put a spanner in Nottingham's plans

st13phil

st13phil

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Looks like Nott's City Council's latest money-making scam could backfire if Boots follow through with their threat. I really hope they do :thumb:
 
SO they move the car park and then the council moves the boundaries (or can only national government do that?)

Of course Boots could always threaten to move so a new HQ away from the "problem" area. I am sure another council would be glad to have a company of that size move into its orbit so to speak; may even offer an incentive to do so.
 
"Councillor Jane Urquhart, Nottingham City Council's portfolio holder for transport, said: "We are disappointed that Boots, which takes its corporate social responsibility seriously, would suggest building new car parks, and we would hope it will conclude that this is not a solution."

Firstly, can anyone on here explain what a "portfolio holder for transport" does, to me, as a taxpayer?

Secondly, could someone explain to the "portfolio holder for transport", that businesses exist to make money for their shareholders, not just bend over and pay extra taxes to local councils and pay the salaries of civil servants?

Or am I missing something?

Gaz
 
While I can't help you to find out what a "portfolio holder for transport" actually does, other than to output meaningless management-speak twaddle in a desperate attempt to justify her own salary/existence, Doh! I've answered it after all!!!!

that businesses exist to make money for their shareholders, not just bend over and pay extra taxes to local councils and pay the salaries of civil servants
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Good point. If councils were run in this manner, maybe idiots like her would have been shown the Exit door long, long ago. And we would be paying a fraction of what we do in taxes.

Local councils - respite homes for people who are of no use to society whatsoever.

[\RANT]
 
Nottingham is led by a cabinet-style executive; each cabinet member is responsible for a certain area of the local authority and hence she is the portfolio (area) holder for transport issues.

All decisions made by officers will go through a cabinet member decision notice, some being Key Decisions of which this would be and cannot progress without cabinet approval.

All very exciting in the world of local government
 
Mr. Saunders - thanks for the explanation. I don't you well enough to be sure whether that was delivered tongue-in-cheek or not, but thanks nonetheless.

It may well be exciting in the world of local government, but things are not so exciting in industry at the moment. Empire building and more taxes are the last thing we need.

I'll shut up now. This is a car forum and I'm going well off topic. Apologies.

Gaz
 
gaz_l said:
This is a car forum and I'm going well off topic.
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I think you are bang on target, I once asked my local MP why I was paying so much in tax for my car... company car tax, fuel duty, road tax etc.... she went through a very long list of well rehearsed 'justifications' which I took great pleasure in shooting down one by one.... she eventually gave up and admitted it was simply because we are an easy target... to start to charge an extra £250 per parking space per year is just criminal..
 
It's a pure tax, and not even a fair one. Every business will have car parking spaces valued in their Business Rate Assessment. Even if there is not an explicit value, it will be implicit within the basic rate.

Businesses will then be taxed twice on the same space, hardly seems fair. Of course, it may be possible to argue that the rental value of a site will fall because of the additional expense...
 
I'm probably talking a bit out of school here and should not really be posting on a public forum but the company I work for also has a centre in Nottingham and the size of this company makes Boots look like your local chemist. They are watching this very closely and have also expressed their disgust at this. But unlike most, this company always follow through on their actions, a new site in a new town has already been identified and welcomed with grants and relocation sweetners should the decision be taken to move if Nottingham go ahead with this, keep your eyes on the press as this will be major.
 
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It will be interesting to see if any exemptions are made for doctors, nurses, local government workers, peripatetic workers. Will they also charge the local fire brigade/ ambulance service/taxi's as they all park in town?
 
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Like so many of these social habit changing taxes, I can swallow them if they are well thought out and provide viable alternatives.

Will the council be providing more and better park and ride schemes?
Will the local train operators provide better provision for customers including cyclists?
Is there somewhere secure to park your bicycle outside the office?
Are there showers in the office?

The phrase used to be 'joined up thinking'. What ever the phrase is today, are councils and businesses doing it?
 
robert.saunders said:
You're quite correct Will, such schemes as Cycle2Work can help

Tax free bikes for work through the Government's Green Transport Initiative - Cyclescheme, provider of Cycle to Work schemes for UK employers
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Can help justify crazy schemes, but do not actually work. How many people drive let's say more than five miles to work? Is any more than that really practical by bike? What about buses - Where I live there is one bus every 2 hours. Train? nearest station is 8 miles. If I get the train to London it costs £160 as I rarely have the opportunity to book in advance. It costs £45 in fuel to do the same journey?

As a surveyor I often acquire commercial property for clients. Recently I acquired an office which was part of a larger development in a Staffordshire town. My client has as part of the Planning Permission got to come up with a travel plan to monitor how many staff come to work by car, and to come up with an effective plan to reduce this, I think over ten years.

It's crazy. For a start my client would hope that this business has grown in the next ten years - result more staff most likely more cars. Their business is National. Are reps likely to abandon their cars? not likely. Is the business going to look at a ten year travel plan to reduce travel, or a ten year business plan to improve profits?

The sample travel plan is a document that has to be seen to be believed. What about a Pool Bicycle so that people can go to town on the bike at lunch! Nice idea, shame about the office clothes.

These policies really frustrate me. Drawn up by either loony environmentalists who do not understand how business operates or economists who do not care. If it is just a revenue raising scheme why not be honest and just say so!!!!!
 
I'm with you on this one David. I wished those that made policy had genuine passion and pride about their jobs.

I will however disagree on a few things you said.

I'm not sure it's fair to compare the price of a train ticket to the cost of car fuel alone. The total car running costs are somewhat high and can easily range from 20-40 ppm. Then if in London you'd have to pay the congestion charge and parking costs. Travelling by train also gives you the opportunity to have a post work beer or two :) But I would still say that train travel is too expensive.

On a suitable bike it's possible to gently cycle <1 mile in office clothes and not get dirty & sweaty. (fitness alowing)

Sometimes we need to change our habits for the best. We might normaly make this choice ourselves, but if we don't, I know it does grate when some civil servant tells us to.
 
Hi,
Regarding the question of nurses and doctors parking at their place of work, my nearest hospital (Southampton General) already charge their staff to park, and they don,t even guarentee a space as they have sold more parking permits than they have spaces.
They have been in the news recently as having made an obscene amount of profit from their car parking system.
So if their employer (health authority) can so easily do this and make so much money, the councils just want a piece of the action except they can steam roller legislation through to get it.
My company are already charged £500 a year (MoD) per parking space, we had cash incentive of a £1000 to surrender our space/car pass.
 
wemorgan said:
I'm not sure it's fair to compare the price of a train ticket to the cost of car fuel alone. The total car running costs are somewhat high and can easily range from 20-40 ppm.
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Yes, it is fair to compare train prices with fuel. Almost all of your vehicle's running costs take the form of up-front charges that you pay whether you use the car or not:
Car tax
Insurance
Depreciation
Loan repayments
Servicing (has to be done yearly on most cars, regardless of mileage)

So, if you need to make a journey and you already own a car (and very few people can actually live normal lives without a car at all), then it is quite reasonable to compare the fuel cost with the train cost.

The really frustrating thing is that, even if you use the full 40ppm figure to evaluate a car's per-mile cost, it is still usually cheaper than public transport.
 
I agree with DJP. If you own a car then the petrol cost and parking is the main consideration for individual days or journeys. Travel planning for permission reasons includes whether or not the building is on a bus route, close to a station etc.
 
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