Motorists entering Glasgow face further restrictions as plans for a congestion charge have moved closer.
Councillors say that a charge would help meet climate targets, but admit the plan is a money-raising exercise along with other plans to tax those coming into the city, including a visitor levy and tolls at the Clyde Tunnel.
Businesses which have opposed the low emission zone and the level of parking charges are likely to find the latest moves equally concerning.
The congestion charge would exempt Glasgow residents but would hit commuters, tradesmen and others outwith the city boundaries.
Plans to implement a workplace parking charge, which would have raised £8m a year, have been shelved for the time being and remain an option for the future
In a report to councillors, council official George Gillespie says: “While the Council does not intend to progress a Workplace Parking Licensing scheme at this time, officers will now direct resources to the exploration of alternative potential initiatives utilising local road user charging powers.
“While a WPL scheme has the potential to encourage modal shift and generate relatively modest revenues to support sustainable transport interventions, it is considered that alternative options such as initiatives utilising local road user charging powers may prove more impactful in achieving these aims.”
Councillors will consider the report next week.
SNP councillor Ricky Bell, who serves as city treasurer, said: “We need to have solutions that work for Glasgow, and things like a tourist tax, congestion charging, tolling on the tunnel are the big ones that would make quite a difference to the amount of money we get.”
Green party councillor Blair Anderson told the full council meeting that hitting climate targets meant moving people from cars to public transport – and charging motorists would raise much-needed finance.
“A road user charging scheme would give us the money to make Glasgow’s buses publicly owned, reliable, fast and free,” he said.
A 5% tourist tax, which was approved by councillors in June, will be implemented from January 2027. Visitors to the city will be charged an extra £4.83 per night in a bid to raise £16m a year.
In a posting on X, Reform Councillor Thomas Kerr, said “The SNP’s plan in Glasgow? Tax, tax, tax.
“This congestion charge will strangle business, turn off visitors and kill investment in our city. These chancers need to go before their damage is irreversible.”
The Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland has urged ‘caution’ over introducing the charging package.
Hisashi Kuboyama, the group’s west of Scotland development manager, said: “The city’s post-Covid recovery has been painfully slow, and businesses’ confidence isn’t back up yet.
“The council needs to ensure the impact on local businesses is fully considered as it develops policy proposals if they want to bring the city centre back to where it was.
“We welcome the city council’s decision to drop the idea of a workplace parking charge. That would have placed an extra burden on small businesses who need vehicles to carry out their work.”
David Lonsdale, the director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “Workplace parking levies are a charter for extra cost and complexity which would see firms taxed twice for the parking places they provide for colleagues, on top of the business rates already paid on those spaces.
“The growing burden of statutory costs that firms are facing would likely see employers seek to recoup some or all of the cost of any parking levies from colleagues. We applaud Glasgow’s decision to shelve plans for such levies.”
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