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Workplace Parking Licensing (Scotland) Regulations 2022

Letter from the Minister for Transport to the Convener, 17 February 2022

Dear Convener,

Following the Committee’s consideration of evidence on the Workplace Parking Licensing (Scotland) Regulations 2022 on 8 February 2022, I am providing this follow up to questions asked by Members of the Committee.

Licensing charge 

Section 70(2) of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 (“the 2019 Act”) provides that local authorities must, in a workplace parking licensing scheme, determine the amount of the licence charge to be paid by employers under the scheme on the basis of the number of workplace parking places they provide. The amount of the licence charge is therefore a matter for local authority discretion and the 2019 Act does not give the Scottish Ministers the power to make provision in regulations either to set, or cap, the amount of licence charges. 

At the time the 2019 Act was at Bill stage, with the introduction of the amendments on WPL, it was clear that the powers to make and operate workplace parking licensing schemes are discretionary power for local authorities. Setting or putting a cap on the amount of the licensing charge would go against the objective of supporting local decision-making and making a WPL scheme that supports the objectives of a local transport strategy.

To support transparent local decision-making and scrutiny in relation to schemes, including the proposed licencing charge, the 2019 Act creates rigorous requirements for consultation and impact assessment. Before making a scheme, an outline proposal of that scheme must be published and consulted on by the local authority. That proposal must specify the proposed licence charge, and also set out the objectives the local authority intends to achieve, as well as an assessment of how (or the extent to which) the proposal will achieve those objectives and how it intends to apply the net proceeds of the scheme. Through this process, the local authority will be expected to provide a justification for its proposed licence charge and it will be open to consultees to comment on this, and other aspects of the scheme as they see fit. Local authorities serve their local communities and their decisions will be underpinned by local democratic accountability.

The decision on the appropriate level of licence charge is a matter of local authority discretion and accountability. If they consider it appropriate, Scottish Ministers may initiate an independent examination of a proposal and specify the matters which they consider the examination should consider, which could include the amount of the licence charge. 

Modelling on driver behaviour change 

On the issue of behaviour change based on whether employers choose to pass on the charge to employees, Nottingham City Council made a submission to the REC Committee as part of the Committee’s evidence gathering at the time of the Stage 2 amendments. This included a summary of Nottingham’s detailed evaluation. 

Workplace parking licensing is expected to have an impact on employer behaviour as well as driver behaviour. In its evidence, Nottingham City Council showed that the supply of Liable Workplace Parking Places decreased by 17.5% prior to licensing being introduced as employers sought to limit their liability, with a more gradual reduction in the number of workplace parking places provided by employers since introduction. Nottingham City Council also provided evidence showing a number of major employers moved into, or consolidated to, city centre locations with good public transport accessibility in part to remove the need for the provision of parking and improve accessibility.

It is important to note that workplace parking licensing schemes are not intended to stand alone but rather must support the objectives in the local transport strategy and sit alongside the other measures and policies within the local transport strategy. This is supported by the evidence provided by Nottingham, which identified a small but positive impact on driver behaviour arising directly from workplace parking licensing but more significant indirect transport impacts arising from the increased investment in public transport. 

The 2019 Act requires local authorities to make arrangements for the periodic review of the operation and effectiveness of the scheme. 

As part of Scottish Government consultation and engagement on the draft 20% car km route map we will work with stakeholders to consider the value of monitoring and evaluating sub measures within the overall package, and a full monitoring and evaluation plan will be set out alongside the final route map.

Licensing conditions

The Scottish Parliament determined that local authorities may make decisions about licence conditions: Section 76 of the 2019 Act allows local authority workplace parking licensing schemes to make provision about the imposition of licence conditions. 

This means that local authorities in Scotland could decide to make their workplace parking licences subject to conditions either generally or depending on the circumstances of particular employers. 
As this is a matter for local authorities, it is not considered appropriate for the Scottish Government to speculate on the conditions local authorities may choose to impose.

Local exemptions 

We expect that local exemptions may arise in practice. In addition to the national level exemptions, local authorities may create local exemptions in their schemes, which would reflect their local circumstances. These could (but are not required to and not limited to) include, for example, an exemption for businesses with a small number of workplace parking places. 

Compliance 

Compliance with workplace parking licensing requirements will be a matter for local authorities and will be resourced by local authorities. Local authorities may use revenue from WPL schemes to support compliance and enforcement as this would be considered an operational expense of running the scheme. 

Conclusion 

I have set out above the detailed points that arose at Committee during its consideration of the Workplace Parking Licensing (Scotland) Regulations. The 2019 Act already provides these discretionary local workplace parking licensing powers to local authorities. The purpose of these regulations is to make detailed and technical provision to underpin the framework already provided by the 2019 Act. This will provide local authorities with the tools on workplace parking licensing, already held by councils in England and Wales and welcomed in Scotland by our local authority partners in COSLA. Councils in England and Wales have had these powers for over a decade since the Workplace Parking Levy (England) Regulations 2009 were made under the Transport Act 2000.

Jenny Gilruth