Parking spaces belonging to companies in Leicester should be taxed to generate cash to improve public transport in the city, a mayoral candidate has said.
Mags Lewis says she would follow the lead of East Midlands neighbour Nottingham and introduce a workplace parking levy if she were to be elected as a Green Party mayor for the city.
Ms Lewis was the first candidate to publicly announce she will take on Labour incumbent Sir Peter Soulsby in May’s election and says transport issues will be the main plank of her campaign.
Her flagship policy is the parking levy and while it makes some £8 million in Nottingham which helps fund the city’s tram network, she would spend the money on improving Leicester’s buses.
She said: “The parking levy has revolutionised public transport in Nottingham and we are falling behind in Leicester.
“We might not accrue as much money as Nottingham but we could get a good amount that could be used to fund desperately needed improvements to our bus network.
She said she would use the income to fund pilot schemes trialling:
- Free bus journeys for journeys to school by school children
- Extensions to night time and morning services
- Key routes having buses far more regularly
- Electric buses,
- Contactless tickets and real time bus info
She said she would like to establish a Bus Alliance - similar to that existing in Liverpool – a formal partnership between bus firms and local government designed to improve services.
Ms Lewis said as mayor she would also look to improve the city’s rail particular re-opening the Burton to Leicester line.
Ms Lewis, a 46-year-old mother of two from Clarendon Park, said: “Labour has a Soviet-style grip on this city but they haven’t done anything to bring in the major transport changes we need.
“That is what is so disappointing.”
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In Nottingham the introduction of a workplace parking levy led to initial concerns firms would quit the city to avoid the expense or simply find ways of passing the cost onto staff.
Sir Peter responds
Labour city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby, who is seeking his third term in office, said a workplace parking levy was ‘certainly an option for funding public transport.’
He said: “I certainly would not rule it out. Nottingham have one to fund a very inflexible tram system but if we were to bring one in we would want to do so much more.
“I think I would agree with her (Ms Lewis) on many of the things she is saying and that is the problem for any Green candidate in this city.
“They will struggle to differentiate themselves from a very environmentally friendly Labour Party.”
