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CHAPTER 3: LOCAL AUTHORITY ROAD USER CHARGING AND WORKPLACE PARKING LEVY SCHEMES - THE SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE’S PROPOSALS
3.1 Introduction
3.1.1 The Scottish Executive proposes primary legislation necessary to enable local authorities to introduce local road user charging schemes and/or a levy on workplace parking across all or in designated parts of their areas. The legislation will also allow road user charging on the motorway and trunk road network (see Chapter 5). The Scottish Executive does not believe that it will be necessary, in Scotland, to publish statutory guidance on the operation of such schemes. Its officials will work closely with authorities proposing schemes as they are developed and offer appropriate advice during this process. The precise details of how individual schemes will operate would then be set out in the order creating the scheme, which, in all cases would have to be approved by the authority and confirmed by the Scottish Ministers (see paragraph 3.2.11 and section 4.2 for further details on the order making procedure). This process will enable the experience gained in early projects regarding efficient and effective scheme design and operation to be taken on board without the need to seek fresh primary legislation.
3.1.2 This Chapter explains the Scottish Executive’s proposals on the coverage of this legislation by setting out, in italics, the powers which, it is proposed, the legislation would confer and then offering some explanatory background in each case. The Chapter begins by describing powers which would be relevant to both local road user charging and the workplace parking levy and then turns to matters which are only relevant to one of these instruments.
3.2 Powers relevant to both road user charging and a workplace parking levy
General enabling powers
The primary legislation will provide powers to enable local authorities, singly or jointly, and with the approval of the Scottish Ministers, to introduce a mandatory charge for driving a vehicle into a designated area, for using a vehicle in a designated area or for using specified roads. It will also provide powers to enable local authorities, again with the approval of the Scottish Ministers, to introduce a mandatory levy on the owners or occupiers of premises in respect of the number of motor vehicles which may be parked on their premises by employees, either throughout the authority’s area or in designated parts of the area.
3.2.1 The Scottish Executive does not propose that authorities should be compelled to introduce a road user charging scheme or a levy on workplace parking in their area. It takes the view that the decision to promote a scheme needs to be taken by local authorities, either singly or jointly, in light of individual circumstances and needs. The Scottish Executive considers that authorities are best placed to consider the balance between the costs of a scheme in their local areas against the benefits that schemes can deliver. In the area served by Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority, there is a need to consider the respective roles of the local authority and the PTA. The Scottish Executive takes the view that it is for the local authority, with its roads and traffic management responsibilities and its direct accountability to the electorate, to take the initiative in proposing charging/levy schemes. However, the PTA’s responsibility for promoting public transport clearly means that it has a significant role to play and it should be consulted on any local authority proposal8.
3.2.2 The Scottish Executive believes that the boundaries within which a charging or levy scheme would apply should be drawn to permit the most efficient and effective operation of the scheme. They do not necessarily have to cover the whole of an authority’s area nor should they be constrained by local government administrative boundaries. The primary legislation will allow authorities to combine to develop a joint scheme and, in such cases, a joint order would be necessary. Where the proposed boundaries of a local road user charging scheme would encompass all or part of a trunk road, the Scottish Ministers should be consulted at an early stage in the development of the proposals.
3.2.3 Local road user charging and workplace parking levy schemes are likely to be of most relevance to urban areas. There may, however, be situations where a seasonal road user charge in a rural area would be appropriate (eg as part of a strategy to develop sustainable tourism) and the legislation will permit this.
3.2.4 The Scottish Executive’s view is that local road user charging schemes would normally involve either:
a) a charge to enter a designated area or cross zonal boundaries within it, or to pass points on a designated road; or
b) a charge for keeping or driving a vehicle within the boundary of a charged area (i.e. an area licence).
The primary legislation will permit either form of charging or a combination of these approaches since this might be appropriate in some circumstances. Schemes may be based either on a requirement to purchase and display a paper permit or disc, or on free-flow electronic charging based on communication between a device in a vehicle and equipment on the roadside. It is the Scottish Executive’s view that it should be for individual authorities to decide whether they want to implement an electronic charging scheme, or whether they would prefer a paper-based scheme for their area, in light of local circumstances, objectives, and the relative costs of different options. However, the Scottish Executive would wish to ensure that the equipment used in an electronic scheme was compatible with that in use in other parts of the United Kingdom (see paragraph 3.3.2 below).
3.2.5 In theory, electronic charging would allow vehicles to be charged on the basis of vehicle speed, time spent in a charged area, or distance travelled. However, the Scottish Executive has considered and discounted legislation permitting charging based on speed or time spent in a designated area. Research9 strongly indicates that charging on this basis encourages dangerous driving behaviour, such as speeding and rat running, to minimise the charge to be paid. There is also evidence of a strong driver preference for knowing in advance what the charge to be levied would be, as part of the process of deciding whether and how to make journeys. Administration and enforcement of "speed related" or "time spent" schemes could also be more complicated. Pure distance-based charging is not an option with the technology currently available, but it would be possible to divide up an area into a number of small zones as a proxy. This would also have the benefit of being able to pick up orbital as well as radial journeys and journeys within the urban area.
3.2.6 In the case of the workplace parking levy, the primary legislation that the Scottish Executive proposes will enable a levy to be charged on:
3.2.7 The Scottish Executive takes the view that the levy will have to apply to visitor parking as well as employee parking at premises where parking is predominantly for use by employees. This is because of practical difficulties in distinguishing between employer and visitor parking. But the Scottish Executive would be willing to consider ways of exempting visitor parking at these premises if a practical solution can be found. In recognition of the legitimate needs of some businesses to have some parking that is not subject to a levy, exemptions for certain types of user and vehicle, and the possibility of applying the levy only above a threshold are discussed later as issues for consultation. Such exemptions would also offer an opportunity for removing some visitor parking from the scope of levy.
3.2.8 The Scottish Executive is aware that non-workplace parking - eg customer parking at retail and leisure facilities - can contribute to local congestion, both in town centres and other areas. This is particularly so for larger retail and leisure developments although, unlike commuting journeys, the effects are not usually concentrated in peak periods. Generous provision of parking for customers and visitors can have other undesirable effects, such as encouraging car-dependent development on edge of town and out-of town sites. However, the Scottish Executive is not yet persuaded that a levy on non-workplace parking would be the most effective way of addressing the issue of changing customer travel patterns.
3.2.9 As has been set out in the National Planning Policy Guideline Transport and Planning, the Scottish Executive expects to see local authorities moving to parking standards that result in fewer parking spaces being provided in new development and redevelopment for which planning permission is sought. For existing development, Travel Choices for Scotland noted that the UK Government would seek to promote closer partnership working between local authorities and the owners and operators of major retail and leisure facilities to reduce car usage through improving public transport, walking and cycling access and home delivery services. The Scottish Executive will continue to work in this direction.
Expenditure powers
The primary legislation will provide powers to enable local authorities, singly or jointly, to incur expenditure in developing proposals for road user charging schemes on roads for which they are responsible and for developing proposals for a levy on workplace parking in their areas.
3.2.10 Clearly considerable development work will be required. This might involve devoting internal resources to developing schemes and/or the letting of external consultancy contracts.
Order making powers
The primary legislation will provide powers to enable local authorities to make orders to give effect to charging schemes and/or a levy on workplace parking, subject to the approval of the Scottish Ministers, and a power for the Scottish Ministers to make regulations stipulating the procedure to be followed in promoting orders.
3.2.11 The Scottish Executive envisages that the primary legislation will require a charging or levy scheme to be established by the making of an order and would expect the order to specify the operational characteristics of a scheme. The procedure to be followed when promoting an order and whether a statement of intended use of revenues should be written into the order are discussed in Chapter 4 as issues for consultation. In terms of the lifetime of an order, the Scottish Executive’s initial view is that this should largely be left to the discretion of the local authority but that a maximum period of 10 years should be set to allow schemes to be thoroughly reviewed at least that often. Authorities could choose to limit the duration of the order to less than this, if they wished, but there would be no obligation to do so. Orders would be capable of amendment or revocation at any time. A review of the Local Transport Strategy would provide an obvious opportunity for review of the scheme, in terms of the level of charge and use of the revenue, and the promotion of any necessary amendment order (which would have to be approved by the Scottish Ministers). However, Local Transport Strategies are to be reviewed every 3 years and it is not proposed that a review of the charging/levy order on every occasion would be appropriate or desirable. In the case of the workplace parking levy, the Scottish Executive proposes that an order procedure shall apply to existing planning permissions which require the provision of a minimum number of parking places at a development in areas where a levy is to be introduced. The Order would set aside the requirement for a minimum number of parking places to be provided. It would be for the owner of the development to decide whether to take advantage of the Order and reduce the number of parking places which they may not need or want, or prefer to decommission. Where owners took such action, the Order would provide for the owner not being required to reinstate the original number of parking places once the Order itself expired.
Financial powers
The primary legislation will provide: powers to enable operating costs (including enforcement) to be met from revenue; powers allowing local authorities to spend net revenue on transport-related purposes, subject to the approval of the Scottish Ministers; and powers to enable the net revenue from schemes to be shared with neighbouring authorities.
3.2.12 In the case of road user charging, the initial setting up costs could be considerable, particularly if an electronic scheme is proposed, and could require significant capital investment before any revenue is generated. Paper based schemes, however, would cost significantly less to implement. There are also operating costs which would need to be considered. The costs of implementing and operating a parking levy scheme are likely to be significantly less than for road user charging schemes.
3.2.13 The Scottish Executive recognises that an attraction of road user charging or a workplace parking levy to local authorities is that, in addition to a direct traffic restraint impact, these instruments can be expected to generate a sizeable revenue stream. Responses to the 1997 consultation on developing an integrated transport policy indicated a very strong feeling that, if these measures were to be introduced, the net revenue should be retained by local authorities and spent on local transport, predominantly on making the alternatives to private car use more attractive. Under the Scotland Act, all the money raised by local authorities has to be retained by them and spent at the local level.
3.2.14 On the use to be made of these revenues, the expectation would be that the first call on this revenue should be expenditure - capital or current - in support of the authority’s Local Transport Strategy. However, it is likely, in some cases, that improving access, particularly to urban centres, by modes other than the private car will require expenditure outside the charging authority’s area. The legislation will ensure that authorities can make payments to other authorities and to transport operators in support of services that run beyond or outside their boundaries.
3.2.15 The Scottish Ministers will wish to ensure that local authorities make good use of the extra revenue available to them as a result of charging or levy schemes and, in particular, would not wish low priority transport projects offering poor value for money to be undertaken simply because revenue was available. The proposed legislation will not, therefore, restrict expenditure entirely to transport-related matters. It will be for the Scottish Ministers, in approving schemes, to determine, on a case by case basis, the extent to which the revenue should be spent on transport or should be allocated to other local authority activities.
3.2.16 There may be VAT implications for road user charges. The legislative framework for VAT is found in EC Directives which must be reflected in each member state’s national law. Action is currently being taken by the European Commission against the UK (as well as France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Greece) for not levying VAT at the standard rate (in the UK, 17.5%) on road and bridge tolls. Cases are being pursued by the Commission before the European Court of Justice with hearings likely this year. The outcome of this legal action will determine whether road user charges are relieved of VAT or whether they should bear VAT at the standard rate.
Procurement powers
The primary legislation will provide powers to enable authorities to enter into franchise agreements with the private sector, to establish joint companies with the private sector or to institute other forms of Public Private Partnership initiatives for the management and operation of schemes, including the installation and operation of any necessary electronic equipment.
3.2.17 The Scottish Executive is open-minded on how authorities should procure and finance a charging or workplace parking levy scheme, although it will be looking for assurances that best value is secured from the process.
Accounting arrangements
The primary legislation will place a requirement on authorities implementing a scheme to establish a special free-standing account in respect of income and expenditure associated with the charging or workplace parking levy scheme.
3.2.18 This would be similar to the arrangements already established by some local authorities for on-street parking income and expenditure. This arrangement will ensure transparency in the use made of the net revenues generated by the scheme, including the income arising from penalty charges. It is intended that the money from the account could be used for capital or revenue expenditure.
Powers relating to exemptions
The primary legislation will provide powers to enable the Scottish Ministers to make regulations to establish any general exemptions from a charge or levy and to enable authorities to make other local exemptions.
3.2.19 The Scottish Executive intends to propose a national exemption for emergency vehicles. The case for other national exemptions is discussed, as an issue for consultation, in Chapter 4.
3.3 Powers relating solely to local authority road use charging schemes
Type approval of in-vehicle and roadside equipment
The primary legislation will provide powers for the Scottish Ministers to specify and/or type approve any necessary in-vehicle and roadside electronic equipment.
3.3.1 The primary legislation will enable the Scottish Ministers to make regulations requiring that any necessary in-vehicle and roadside equipment, including roadside enforcement cameras, which may be used as part of a road user charging scheme, meets specified standards or will give the Scottish Ministers a specific power to approve such equipment. The Scottish Ministers could also have powers to designate the system for payment - including the possible use of smartcards. Although type approval is most relevant to electronic charging, the Scottish Executive proposes that the Scottish Ministers’ powers will also cover the design of permits used in paper-based schemes.
3.3.2 The Scottish Executive believes strongly that an electronic scheme would not be practical or acceptable to road users if they were required to have several different in-vehicle units fitted to their vehicles to facilitate free-flow journeys between different areas in the United Kingdom where different electronic charging schemes were in force. The UK Government is undertaking a study of how best to provide for interoperability. Subject to the findings of that work, it expects that regulation and type approval will be necessary to ensure that the technology meets minimum standards of accuracy, reliability and interoperability, while allowing freedom where possible for operators to innovate or offer variations and additional facilities. Such standards may be set at a UK or European level and this will require co-ordination between the Scottish Ministers and their counterparts in the other UK Departments with relevant responsibilities.
Enforcement powers
The primary legislation will make provision for a civil penalty system for evaders of a road user charge, including surcharging of offenders, enforcement by Sheriff Officers and independent adjudication.
3.3.3 The Scottish Executive intends that the primary legislation should provide for an effective and equitable enforcement regime for road user charging schemes. The Scottish Executive proposes that the primary legislation will create a civil offence of non-payment of a road user charge as opposed to a criminal offence. The approach could be modelled on that in place where non-endorsable on-street parking offences have been decriminalised under the Road Traffic Act 1991. Such an approach would provide for discounting penalty charges for prompt payment or surcharging late payers. The approach could also offer authorities the opportunity of imposing higher penalties for repeat offenders (although this is not provided for under the 1991 Act) and ultimately enforcement of charges by Sheriff Officers. The legislation will also provide for an independent adjudication process to allow those receiving a penalty charge notice (PCN) to challenge it.
Liability of registered keeper
The primary legislation will provide for the registered keeper of a vehicle to be liable to pay any penalty charge should the vehicle enter or be in a designated area or use a specified road, without paying the prescribed charge.
3.3.4 Under this arrangement, the registered keeper of a vehicle would be responsible for paying any penalty following non-payment of a road user charge. There would, of course, be a defence where a vehicle had been taken and driven away without the owners’ consent. The alternative possibility of driver liability would require the enforcement body to be able to identify the person driving the vehicle at the time that a charge was not paid. This would require camera evidence of failure to pay a charge including a photograph of the driver’s face, which raises serious practical difficulties as well as some concerns about privacy (although the use of photography to identify offenders is becoming increasingly common). The alternative would be a lengthy and bureaucratic process of swearing statements and attempting to transfer liability. In a civil regime, where licence endorsement, disqualification and ultimately imprisonment are not at stake, this seems unduly complicated. In any case, the driver is likely to be known to the registered keeper of a vehicle. This will enable payment of the penalty to be resolved between the registered keeper and the driver at the time an offence was committed. This can be expected to be straightforward given the nature of the offence and the scale of the penalty. The liability to pay and the duty to be equipped to do so will apply equally where the registered keeper is an individual and where it is a registered company.
3.3.5 The Scottish Executive envisages that the legislation will make provision for transfer of liability where the registered keeper of a vehicle is a vehicle hire company, and the vehicle was the subject of a valid hiring agreement at the time of the failure to make payment. This is the current arrangement for decriminalised parking enforcement. However, the respective responsibilities of the hiring company and the hirer require further consideration.
Installation and maintenance of equipment
The primary legislation will impose a duty on the registered keeper to take all reasonable steps to ensure that a vehicle contains any necessary in-vehicle equipment in working order, or displays a paper disc or permit, before entering a charged area and will make attempting to defraud by obscuring or tampering with charging equipment a criminal offence.
3.3.6 The Scottish Executive considers that deliberately tampering with any electronic equipment, either on the vehicle or by the roadside, using a forged permit or deliberately obscuring a number plate represent more serious offences which require a criminal sanction. These offences could be detected by physical inspection by police officers, perhaps after notification by attendants. Liability would, in the first place, be assumed to lie with the person driving at the time of the inspection. But in other cases, primarily tampering with electronic equipment, the offence may not be detected until a pattern of non-payment has been established by the electronic system.
Photographic evidence
The primary legislation will make provision for camera and video-based enforcement records to be admissible as evidence in a court of law.
3.3.7 With electronic charging, the Scottish Executive would expect enforcement to be primarily undertaken by automatic means, with the number plate of offending vehicles captured on camera. But even with fully electronic schemes some visual or manual back-up, probably including occasional high profile checks in which moving vehicles would be stopped, are likely to be needed to ensure that vehicles have the correct on-board unit and are paying the correct charge. The Scottish Executive would expect the actual checks to be undertaken by civilians working for the authority. The power to stop vehicles is currently vested only in the police. However, consideration is being given to the scope for allowing traffic to be stopped by traffic wardens. Alternatively traffic might be stopped by use of a police enforcement sign that would be put in position by a police officer but then operated by other enforcement agencies, rather than requiring a police officer in uniform to stop every vehicle. Decisions on that issue will be relevant to the enforcement of road user charging.
3.3.8 Under a paper-based scheme, the Scottish Executive would expect to see a mix of automatic and manual inspection. Cameras would be capable of identifying whether a vehicle was displaying anything in the windscreen, but might be unable to detect forgeries. Consequently the Scottish Executive feels that it would be necessary to have at least periodic checks in which vehicles would be stopped at entry points to the designated area to inspect discs or permits. Traffic wardens or parking attendants would be able to check vehicles parked on the street or in public car parks.
3.4 Powers relevant to a workplace parking levy
Requirement to hold a workplace parking spaces licence
The primary legislation would provide a power for local authorities to require owners or occupiers of business premises with employee vehicles parked at them to be in possession of a licence issued by the authority setting out the number of vehicles which may be parked on the premises.
3.4.1 A workplace parking levy could take a number of forms. However, the Scottish Executive proposes that the levy should take the form of a licence fee. This would operate by requiring owners or occupiers of business premises to apply to the local authority for a licence. The licence would state the maximum number of motor vehicles which could be parked on the premises of that building at any one time, with the levy applied pro-rata. Consequently the licence total could be less than the total number of cars parked on-site over the course of a day. For example, a factory operating on a shift basis might have 100 employees who drive to work, but no more than 50 would be present at any time - therefore the employer would be expected to apply for a licence for 50 vehicles. It is an issue for consultation whether the licence should extend beyond cars used in the journey to work and cover other vehicles.
3.4.2 Where car parks are predominantly used by non-employees, eg at retail and leisure facilities, the Scottish Executive proposes that building owners or occupiers will be required to obtain a licence for those who drive to work in the same way as other employers whose car parks are predominantly used by employees. In the case of types of premises where parking is predominantly for employees, the licence would be for the total number of vehicles to be parked (ie including those being used by visitors or customers).
3.4.3 The same individual or organisation that is responsible for paying the Business Rate would be responsible for paying the levy. The structure and duration of licences, including provisions for a licence covering occasional parking at sites, or arrangements for occupiers who might occasionally need to allow more vehicles to park on-site than their licence permits, are discussed later as issues for consultation
3.4.4 The Scottish Executive’s proposal of a licence based approach is based on the number of motor vehicles parked at premises rather than the number of parking spaces attached to them. If parking bays were not clearly marked out, a spaces based approach would require a complex assessment and appeals regime. The licence-based approach also places the onus on building occupiers to assess their parking requirements and to apply to the local authority for the relevant licence. This avoids placing an administrative burden on an authority to estimate the number of spaces at each building. Such an approach can also be expected to reduce the number of appeals which the authority could be expected to have to deal with if the levy were applied per space rather than per vehicle parked. A licence-based approach also enables building occupiers to reduce the size of the charge incurred by taking steps to reduce the number of vehicles parked on-site rather than having to take physical steps to demonstrate that parking spaces have actually been decommissioned.
3.4.5 Parking provision is already assessed separately for some types of development in some locations for Business Rate calculation purposes. The Scottish Executive is not persuaded by the argument that it would be a sufficient incentive to change travel behaviour, to reduce the amount of parking provided by building occupiers, or to influence locational decisions for new development, simply to identify this as a separate item in the rates bill.
3.4.6 A separate levy introduced through the Business Rate would probably mean applying a special poundage rate to the valuation of the parking spaces to establish the magnitude of the levy. The effect, as a general rule, would be to tax town centre parking relatively highly to out-of-town parking because of the relatively high rateable value of town centre parking. Although this would be desirable in terms of tackling urban congestion, such an approach would encourage relocation to the fringe, and the levy could vary considerably across the country - not necessarily in relation to the amount of congestion or pollution in an area. The levy would also only apply to areas formally designated for parking in the assessment process - other on-site parking, for example on a grass verge, would avoid the levy. While the Scottish Executive would want local authorities to make as much use of business rate data as possible, for instance in establishing building occupation and liability to pay, it believes that a new levy offers the best way forward.
3.4.7 As a further alternative, it might be possible to tax some individual users of parking spaces. Employer assisted parking was taxed as a benefit in kind until 1988, when the Inland Revenue abandoned it, largely because the administrative effort involved in administering the tax was disproportionate to the yield. Whilst the Scottish Executive recognises that there are attractions in trying to target the users of individual spaces as the best way to influence travel behaviour, it feels that practical and administrative difficulties would make it extremely difficult to construct a local tax system which required payments for all parking by individuals at the point of use.
Extension of scope of levy
The primary legislation would provide powers for the Scottish Ministers to make regulations extending the list of eligible types of property or parking which may be subject to the levy.
3.4.8 Once the proposed legislation has been in force for some time, the Scottish Executive would expect its operation to be reviewed. At that stage, it would be appropriate to consider whether there was a case for extending the coverage of the parking levy beyond workplace parking. This review would take into account the progress made by building owners and occupiers generally in promoting easier access to their premises by public transport, walking and cycling. It would also consider the likely effectiveness of a more extensive parking levy as part of a package of measures to change travel behaviour and land use choices when compared with other policy options. The primary legislation will allow the Scottish Executive to extend the scope of the levy to apply to types of non-residential parking other than workplace parking through secondary legislation.
3.4.9 The Scottish Executive is aware that imposing a levy on workplace parking and not other types of private non residential (PNR) parking could encourage diversion to PNR parking which is not subject to a levy. Imposing a levy on workplace parking could, for example, encourage commuters to park at local retail outlets where the levy would not apply. The Scottish Executive would expect authorities to consider this displacement effect and to encourage owners of premises not subject to the levy to take measures to ensure that parking at their sites was used only by those for whom it was intended.
3.4.10 The Scottish Executive is also aware of the need to prevent the introduction of a workplace parking levy from simply displacing parking on to the streets or to public off-street car parks. It takes the view that the introduction of a levy will require local authorities to introduce complementary restraint measures. For instance, many authorities might need to introduce new or strengthened on-street parking restrictions with credible levels of enforcement, through the introduction of a de-criminalised parking scheme. The Scottish Executive considers that this would require authorities that had not already done so to take up responsibility for on-street parking enforcement. The adequacy of on-street controls and enforcement arrangements would be a key consideration taken into account by the Scottish Ministers before approving a scheme.
3.4.11 Where an authority charges for on and off street parking, the Scottish Executive considers that tariffs for longer-stay parking will have to be raised to ensure that they are consistent with the charges imposed by the levy so that the levy does not simply result in displacement to cheaper parking. Other options would be to reduce the number of public off street parking places or change their availability in terms of number of hours, as part of a general approach to favour short stay rather than long stay parking. Arrangements for publicly and privately owned public off-street car parking are discussed in Chapter 4 as an issue for consultation.
Enforcement powers
The primary legislation will make provision for a civil penalty charge to be levied on the occupier of eligible premises if more non-exempt motor vehicles are parked there than are stipulated in the licence and provide for independent adjudication.
3.4.12 The Scottish Executive intends that the primary legislation should provide for an effective and equitable enforcement regime for the workplace parking levy. The Scottish Executive proposes that a civil sanction should be applied for parking more vehicles on the premises than is provided for in a licence, with enforcement arrangements again modelled on those used for decriminalised parking.
The primary legislation will provide powers for agents of the authority to enter premises to inspect the number of vehicles parked on-site, and to issue penalty charge notices to building occupiers when an offence is being committed. This offers the opportunity of surcharging offenders and enforcement by Sheriff Officers.
3.4.13 The Scottish Executive recognises the sensitivity of the powers of entry proposal, although it would be akin to the powers already exercised by local authority inspectors. But is essential to the operation of the levy. Enforcement arrangements in cases where workplace parking is not the predominant reason for parking in a car park are discussed in Chapter 4 as an issue for consultation. Agents of the authority will be able to issue penalty charge notices to the building occupier if the conditions of a licence are breached. Appropriate penalty levels are discussed in Chapter 4 as an issue for consultation.
The primary legislation will create a criminal offence of unreasonably denying an inspector access to premises for the purposes of checking compliance with the terms of a licence.
3.4.14 This merits a stronger sanction than breaching the conditions of a licence, not least because effective enforcement will require immediate access to premises without prior notification.
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