Birmingham City Council has published proposals for a workplace parking levy that could cost businesses £500 per year for each parking space it offers to employees.

The initiative is part of the Council’s strategy to reduce emissions and congestion in the centre of Birmingham.

Based on an initial assessment of the predicted net revenue, it is estimated that the levy will generate approximately £7m annually.

The workplace charging levy will operate alongside the town’s clean air zone, which is expected to come into force in July 2020.

In it’s proposal document, Birmingham City Council suggests the levy will be enforced within the clean air zone area, within the A4540 ring-road.

Currently, the only council to enforce a workplace parking levy is Nottingham.

The Nottingham scheme, which charges businesses £415 per space, has been in operation since 2012 and has raised £64 million, which has been used to improve Nottingham’s tram network and subsidise a public bike-share scheme.

A number of UK cities and towns are considering workplace parking levies as a way of tackling air quality and emissions targets and raising money to invest in sustainable transport projects.

Leicester, Reading, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cambridge, Bristol and Hounslow and Camden in London have all confirmed that a workplace parking levy is under consideration.

It will put further focus on fleets to consider alternative mobility options for employees in city centre office locations, alongside their future planning on how to mitigate the impact of other measures like clean air zones (CAZs) and congestion charges.

It is predicted that the proposed scheme will take three years to implement, becoming operational in 2023/24.