Business owners in Birmingham have been voicing their concerns about the council’s proposal to introduce a parking levy as part of a ‘clean air initiative’ in Birmingham City centre.
As part of the proposal, which aims to reduce carbon emissions in the city centre, businesses will have to set parking charges of £500 a year for private parking spaces.
However, the proposals have been met with opposition from business groups, who are questioning the integrity of the report and the effect on businesses.
Director of Birmingham Westside business group, Mike Olley, has condemned the report. He said:
“The overwhelming feedback from members within the group is highly undesirable.”
The backlash to the report has also raised questions about the integrity of the investigation.
“The council did not do a thorough enough investigation into the positives, leading to too many questions without adequate answers. [Businesses] may well not survive in the future.”
“Cleaner, healthier environment”
The report, published this week, promises that the clean air initiative will benefit all of the population of Birmingham.
It proposes that the scheme will:
“Tackle air pollution to help create a cleaner, healthier environment…[implementing] a traffic management strategy to reduce congestion during periods of disruption and support economic growth.”
The report cites Nottingham, the only other city in the UK to implement this system, as a positive example, saying Nottingham has shown no negative business impacts as a result of their system launching in 2012.
The council meeting to determine the future of the scheme will take place tomorrow (Tuesday October 15).