St Ann’s Academy in dispute over Work Parking Levy

Local Councillors Jon Collins, Dave Liversidge & Sue Johnson began a review into improving the safety of thee roads in St Ann’s in January in order to reduce the problem of double parked cars in Church Road & Stonebridge Road, and prevent some motorists using Beacon Hill Rise Road as ‘a race track’ during the hours of darkness.

In Church Road which links Abbotsford Drive with St Ann With Emmanuel Church in the heart of the estate, the City Council want to introduce restrictions to prevent double parking, after locals complained that they had difficulty getting in and out of their drives, and parking outside their own homes.

However, on Wednesday Paul Worley, Principal of the nearby Sycamore Academy wrote a letter to all 12 of the residents along Church Road asking them to oppose the new restrictions because teaching staff at the school use the lane for parking to circumvent the City Council’s Parking Place Levy which was introduced a year ago.

Employers inside the Nottingham City Council administrative boundary that provide 11 or more workplace parking places (excluding registered Disabled Blue Badge Holders) have been required to pay a Working Place Parking Levy (WPL) charge since 1st April 2012, and this year the cost of the WPL, from 1st April 2013 - 31st March 2014, will be increased to £334.

The depute centres on new Academies insisting upon their teaching staff paying the WPL and not the school itself because it would have to come out of school funds.

In St Ann’s the former Sycamore school, which caters for 260 pupils aged 5 to 11 has benefited from a £1.9 million investment through the former government's Primary Capital Programme. It became an academy on 19 July 2012 when the Sheriff of Nottingham, Councillor Merlita Bryan, officially opened the remodelled Sycamore Academy.

However, the NASUWT union is continuing to tell its members to refuse to pay the Work Parking Levy. In 2012 the teaching union wrote to all of its members to advise them about their stance.

When the levy was introduced Bernie Pardon, a national executive member of the union, said "We believe teachers should not have to pay the charge and we are advising members not to pay it.

"Schools with more than ten parking places are going to have to pay the levy. We are asking any that if the City Council does decide to charge staff that they consult them first.

"If this does not happen, we will pursue a course of action on our members' behalf."

Nonetheless, this week the city council has again warned that fines of over £334 per space will be handed out for non-compliance by schools not under its control as they will be breaking the law.