Chamber and committees

I really fear that this debate has been a complete waste of time. I totally respect that Graham Simpson has an ideological opposition to the workplace parking levy. He is entitled to have that, and he was entitled to challenge the provision of the workplace parking levy in the 2019 act—I cannot remember if he did, but the Tories certainly tried to get it struck down during the passage of the bill. However, we are beyond that point now, and the motion that he has moved today will not remove that provision from the statute book. If he wants to remove it from law, he is more than welcome to bring forward a member’s bill and make the issue a defining campaign of this parliamentary session, but his motion to annul will not do that.

It is telling that a similar provision remains in UK law. Some councils have made use of it and others have chosen not to, but there has been no attempt by the UK Government to remove it. If Mr Simpson wants to remove the provision from Scots law, he is more than welcome to try to do that, but that is not the effect of his motion—it might be his intention, but it is not the effect.

I know that, after the passage of the 2019 act, virtually all local authorities in Scotland had detailed discussions about whether they wanted to introduce the levy—I remember engaging in those discussions with local authorities in my region. Some of the councils that were more rural in nature discussed the issue with local businesses and major employers in their towns and cities and decided that either the time was not yet right or that it was not a provision that they wanted to pursue. We need to empower local authorities and trust them to make those decisions. Jackie Dunbar made the key point: we need to ensure that that discussion happens locally, and the decision about whether to push forward with the levy should be taken at that level.

What has changed since 2019? Well, we have a climate emergency—

Thanks for that further reassurance. My other point is about something that was in your letter to the committee. You made the point that we might see employers starting to shift away from out-of-town locations and back into city centres. It is clear that our city centres have been gutted because of Covid and the economic downturn, which have also affected small businesses. Is there evidence for that? Are there promising signs from Nottingham or other places that our town centres might be revitalised as a result of the workplace parking levy? That would benefit everybody, particularly small businesses. Would that add another lever to encourage the regeneration of our high streets that we desperately need?

It can. I share your concerns—I had a similar issue with the X53 bus, which I brought to a members’ debate. There has been a lack of transparency from the companies about why they are pulling certain services, and Covid has had an impact on that situation as well. It comes down to the imagination of councils to devise local transport strategies that put in place local bus partnerships, which could include municipal bus companies, that ensure that we can make services viable. If that work were part of a local transport strategy, I do not see why we could not see additional investment—I stress the word “additional”—in those kind of initiatives, under the legislation.

It is for us to push the boundaries, use WPL to incentivise investment in public transport services and ensure that those services are in place when WPL is rolled out. The case is stronger now, particularly given the cost of living crisis, for bringing in a measure that can drive that investment and give ordinary families the public transport systems that they deserve and need.

I take exception to what Mr Simpson is saying. I do not think that we will see councils spending workplace parking levy income on building motorways. That is not what the levy is for. It is an anti-congestion measure, and a measure for investment in the alternatives that people desperately need. It would be bizarre for councils—

My final question is about delivery and the mechanisms that we have for that. My local authority in Stirling has a plan for what it wants to deliver but it is taking a long time to roll it out. Some of that is down to traffic regulation orders and the traffic system. Are there particular barriers that you would point to that could brush up against the ambition of NPF4? I put that to Chiquita Elvin, who is directly involved in rolling out the tarmac, on the ground.

Do Caroline Brown and David Hunter have any final thoughts on the issue?

Other colleagues might want to come in on certain aspects of that, but I will put the question about waste incineration, where it sits within the NPF and what might change to Bruce Wilson.

Yes. Did you get the original question that I posed?

Does Anna Beswick have any comments on that specific question?

Thank you—that is valuable.

I will move on to a different topic, on which I want to bring in Iain Gulland. In effect, we have a moratorium on decisions on new waste incinerators in Scotland, at least for the duration of the Government’s review of waste incineration. What do you think will come out of the review? How do you think that that might shape how the Government approaches waste incineration in the context of the circular economy? Will the review have any bearing on what is in the NPF?

A related issue is whether, in the past, the planning system has been effective at ensuring that, where waste incinerators have been built, they have connected in with heat networks and delivered on that side of things. There is a concern about loopholes. Do you have any thoughts about the effectiveness of the planning system in that regard or about what might emerge from the review and how it will relate to the NPF?

Where workplace parking levies have been introduced, they have raised millions and millions of pounds for public transport and active travel investment, but is there a requirement on councils to invest in those types of priorities?

The measure points to local transport strategies. Investment priorities for those strategies could be broader than just investment in active travel and public transport, so can we get a reassurance that the money that is raised will be invested in the solutions that people need to get them out of cars in the first place?