Call to extend out-of-town parking levy to Galway

A PRE-BUDGET submission by An Taisce to introduce an out-of-town parking levy in the country’s three major cities should be extended to include Galway, a local representative of the environmental watchdog group said this week.

Derrick Hambleton, Chair of An Taisce Galway, said that the motivation for the parking levy submission to Finance Minister Michael Noonan, was to ensure the ongoing viability of city centre retail areas.

“This mightn’t be a major problem in Galway at present but we feel that the introduction of such a levy would be an important step in helping to protect the long term vibrancy of the city centre area,” said Derrick Hambleton.

In their submission, An Taisce said that the application of an out-of-town retail parking levy in Dublin, Cork and Limerick cities could raise annual revenues of over €16 million, with 85% of this going to local councils and the rest to central Government.

According to An Taisce, the parking levy would operate in much the same way as the plastic bag charge.  “For retail centres, with more than 100 spaces, it would be passed onto customers at a rate of 50 cent per hour, dropping to 45 cent for out-of-town shopping malls with 50 to 100 spaces,” said An Taisce.

Derrick Hambleton said that as things stood in the city, the Briarhill shopping area was one that would slip into the out-of-town category – the levy should not apply where such centres were positioned there to primarily serve the local communities, he said.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.