Workplace parking levy proposed for Henley

South Oxfordshire consults on air quality improvement plan

A workplace parking levy is among the ideas to improve air quality in Henley-on-Thames being proposed by South Oxfordshire District Council.

Since December 1997 each local authority in the UK has been carrying out a review and assessment of air quality in their area. This involves measuring air pollution and trying to predict how it will change in the next few years. If a local authority finds any places where the objectives are not likely to be achieved, it must declare an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA).

South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils have put together a new plan of action for the next four years to improve air quality in the districts. The joint Air Quality Action Plan for both districts is currently open for public consultation.

The district’s current air quality plans have been in place for eight to nine years and have been reviewed to ensure that the current pollutant levels are taken into account and that the right plans are in place to deal with the current obstacles.

The new Air Quality Action Plan will tackle air pollution with proposals for the whole of the district as well as recom- mendations targeted at specific AQMAs. There are currently three AQMAs in South Oxfordshire – Henley, Wallingford and Watlington.

Both Wallingford and Watlington have seen nitrogen dioxide levels fall below the national objective over the past three to five years, so the plan for both towns is for them to be no longer designated as AQMAs, that would leave Henley as the only Air Quality Management Area in South Oxfordshire.

The workplace parking levy would apply to employers who provide workplace parking within the Henley’s AQMA.

Based on the proposals for Oxford, the workplace parking levy charge for each chargeable workplace parking space is £600. Employers can decided whether to pass on all or part of this charge to their employees. By law, money raised by the levy must be spent on improving transport infrastructure in the town. A workplace parking levy will mean that businesses with 11 or more car parking spaces will be charged. Every business within Henley’s AQMA will have to apply for a licence and only those with 10 or less would not be charged.

The AQMA proposals for Henley also include promoting walking and cycling by improving the current walking infrastructure and the cycle network by redirecting traffic.

The council wants to promote active travel to school via schemes such as School Streets, which involve the closure of school roads to avoid parking at the gates, and measures that promote parents parking away from the school gates and walking the final part of the journey.