WARRINGTON Borough Council says there is currently ‘no work ongoing’ to consider a workplace parking levy (WPL) in the town.

It was reported in 2021 that a charge on employers who provide parking spaces for staff could be introduced in the town to reduce car use.

The council was carrying out investigations over the impact of a WPL in other areas, and the outcome of this work was to be concluded by the end of that year.

The Labour-run council’s adopted local transport plan, LTP4, includes a section on managing demand for private car travel.

The document says improving walking and cycling infrastructure and providing a new mass transit network will provide ‘high quality, attractive alternatives’ to the use of private cars for journeys in the borough.

It said: “However, a transformation in the way that we travel around Warrington is likely to need to be supported by measures to manage and reduce private car use. This is known as demand management.”

LTP4 highlights two ‘important outcomes’ that such measures could deliver in supporting the council’s ‘transformational transport vision’.

These are reducing car usage by ‘providing a disincentive’ to people to use their car and providing an ‘income source’ that will support the delivery of sustainable transport improvements.

The document highlights a WPL, a charge on employers who provide workplace parking for their staff.

A statement in LTP4 says all businesses that provide more than a given number of free employee-only parking spaces are charged an annual ‘per-space’ fee.

It also states employers are ‘encouraged to manage and potentially reduce’ the level of free workplace parking spaces that they provide – and the levy charged per space creates a revenue stream which ‘must be reinvested’ in sustainable transport improvement projects.

The council has been asked whether a decision has been made on this, and if a WPL will be introduced in Warrington.

In response, a council spokesman said: “Since we adopted our fourth local transport plan (LTP4) in December 2019, we have been keeping up to date with any developments nationally for mass transport solutions for Warrington.

“This is part of our commitment to make the town a well-connected place with high quality and accessible transport, and to support our carbon-neutral future.

“This work initially included a potential workplace parking levy (WPL), which was considered in 2021 to reduce private car usage in the town.

“Our review of this did not lead to any further detailed considerations being taken forward, and there is currently no work ongoing to consider a WPL in Warrington.

“Our position on this will be considered as part of the review of our local transport plan, which is expected over the next two years.

“We have already made progress with our ambitious targets set out in LTP4 to deliver change in Warrington.

“This includes our bus service improvement plan (BSIP), the ongoing rollout of our ZEBRA all electric bus fleet, the construction of our first CYCLOPs junction to improve cycle links, and the delivery of more on street chargers for electric vehicles.”