Nine Scottish business organisations have called for the authorities to introduce free car parking during the Christmas shopping period to help ailing retailers.
In a letter to finance secretary Kate Forbes and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, the groups requested a package of support to help high street businesses cope with the loss in footfall caused by the pandemic.
Written by Scottish Tourism Alliance chief executive Marc Crothall and signed by eight other groups, including the Scottish Retail Consortium, the Federation of Small Businesses Scotland and the Chambers of Commerce, the statement said that removing "regressive charges" should be a priority for local and central government.
“The cost of parking in our towns and cities is viewed by a number of business organisations as a major barrier to trade and we would therefore ask that consideration is given to removing all local authority parking charges in the run up to Christmas to create the stimulation needed to bring life back to our local economies," read the letter.
“We acknowledge the financial challenges faced by all of Scotland’s local authorities and the importance of parking fees as revenue stream and would therefore ask that the Scottish Government consider diverting a portion of the £1bn allocated to Scotland by the Treasury to each of our local authorities to enable a waive on parking charges for at least until the end of this calendar year to allow businesses the best possible chance to trade in the run up to Christmas.”
The letter added: “As a regressive charge, taking no account of ability to pay, parking charges discourage all from travelling safely to local shops and restaurants at a time when consumers are painfully mindful of income, expenditure and future financial uncertainty.
