Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

MSPs' green light for workplace parking levy

MSPs' green light for workplace parking levy

Plans for a tax on workplace parking spaces are part of a transport bill expected to be passed at Holyrood.

The proposal is part of a series of changes to transport in Scotland being put to a final vote at Holyrood.

An attempt by Scottish Labour to remove the parking levy aspect was defeated during a debate on Wednesday.

The Scottish government's transport bill will also shake up bus services, introduce low emission zones in cities and ban parking on pavements.


Will you have to pay to park at work?


The SNP agreed to back the workplace parking levy proposals as part of a budget deal with the Scottish Greens so it is almost certain to be passed by a majority of MSPs in the vote later on Thursday.

This bill would give local authorities across Scotland the power to charge businesses an annual fee for every parking space they provide for workers.

The firms themselves would then decide whether to pass the cost on to staff.

How will a workplace parking scheme work?

The new law would give all Scottish councils the power to impose the levy - so far only Glasgow and Edinburgh have signalled they plan to do so


It is likely to be modelled on a scheme in Nottingham, the only UK city to have implemented a workplace parking levy, where employers offering more than 10 spaces are charged £415 a year for every space


It is up to them to decide if they pass this cost on to staff - in Nottingham 80% of big employers do recoup at least part of it from their workers


Employers in Nothingham have adopted different ways of reclaiming the money, for example the city council deducts a percentage of annual salary, meaning higher paid workers pay more


NHS sites would be exempt for the Scottish scheme but it would be up to councils to decide on other exemptions
Money raised from the levy would reinvested in improving transport

The Transport (Scotland) Bill also aims to halt a decline in bus passenger numbers by giving councils and regional transport partnerships more flexibility to improve services, either by working with bus companies or by stepping in and running services themselves.

It also provides for a ban on double parking and parking on pavements, powers for enforcing low-emission zones in cities and new regulations overseeing roadworks.

A series of amendments to the wide ranging bill were put forward by MSPs in a late sitting of Holyrood on Wednesday.

This included a bid to remove the workplace parking levy by Scottish Labour MSP Neil Bibby, who claimed less well-off workers would be the hardest hit.

He said: "Be in no doubt, this levy is a regressive tax on workers that will the lowest paid hardest.

"It is not consequence-free, it is not fundamentally a solution to climate change and far from incentivising modal shift, it penalises those for whom modal shift is not an option.

"It's not an option because for many working people, public transport in Scotland is simply not good enough."

Transport Secretary Michael Matheson accused Scottish Labour of "hypocrisy" over their opposition to the proposal, highlighting the introduction of a similar scheme at the Labour-run Nottingham City Council.

He added: "It's a power, not a duty. There is a high degree of local decision making in how a scheme is set up, with local authorities having wide powers to shape how that scheme is shaped to meet local needs."

Tory MSPs moved a string of amendments, aimed at ensuring a range of workplaces, such as schools and colleges, police and fire stations, prisons and veterinary practices were exempt, as well as shift workers and night workers.

But these were rejected, with Mr Matheson saying local authorities would have a "very wide range of powers to apply local exemptions to premises, persons or motor vehicles".

David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said the plan was a "charter for extra cost and complexity".

He added: "The introduction of a levy will see firms' taxed twice for the parking places they provide for staff, on top of the business rates already paid on those spaces.

"The dearth any business and regulatory impact assessment to accompany the introduction of this new tax is bewildering, and suggests MSPs risk voting for a pig in a poke."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×