Transport / An ‘unfair tax’? Concern over return of airport car parking charge
THE LEADER of Shetland Islands Council has expressed concern at the impending reintroduction of the car parking charge at Sumburgh Airport – saying it feels like an “unfair tax” on islanders.
Emma Macdonald said the airport is not easily accessible by public transport “and this should be reflected in the decisions that [operator] HIAL make”.
The councillor also noted the higher cost of living in Shetland compared to mainland Scotland.
Meanwhile Shetland MSP Beatrice Wishart has called for HIAL to scrap the reintroduction of the charge.
The fee has been waived since last year following problems with the barrier equipment, but HIAL said replacements would now be installed.
While some say £3 a day is good value compared to what is charged at city airports on the mainland, the Sumburgh car parking charge – which was imposed in 2018 in addition to in Kirkwall and Stornoway – as means of generating income for HIAL – has not been without its critics.
Concern has regularly been expressed about the location of Sumburgh Airport and its accessibility for all.
Macdonald said in her role as council leader she recently attended a stakeholder meeting with HIAL, in which she relayed concerns from the community about the charge being reintroduced.
She said HIAL “explained that this was part of their operating model and was required to allow them to provide the services they do across their network”.
Macdonald said the location of Sumburgh Airport – at the very southern end of mainland Shetland – makes it “incredibly challenging” for people to use public transport to get there.
“In my view, they should look at each locality and see the bigger picture,” the council leader said.
“Whilst the charge might be less than some airport charges this is irrelevant, the cost of living here is significantly higher and anything that adds additional cost seems unfair when people have no option but to take their own car.
“Whilst the council has a role in providing public transport, the reality is that our flights are often delayed due to weather or other things, and this can mean the difference between catching a bus or not.”
She confirmed that the SIC will engage with airline Loganair during work the next round of bus contracts to get the “best alignment” with flight timetables, “but this will never allow everyone to be able to leave their cars”.
“It feels like an unfair tax when our airport isn’t accessible by everyone with public transport, and therefore, I do think this should have been taken into account,” Macdonald said.
The SIC leader said she was also given assurances over security of vehicles left at the airport car park.
Meanwhile Wishart said the parking fee was not needed by HIAL to “keep the lights on”.
Freedom of information (FOI) figures showed that money taken in from the charges has been a very small proportion of overall income at Sumburgh Airport.
The highest proportion was in 2019/20, when the £86,524 taken in from the charge represented 1.42 per cent of the overall income at Sumburgh.
However, the figures appeared to show that the airport is running at an operating loss.
“Car parking charges at Sumburgh Airport is just another tax on islanders simply for living where we do, and I remain in disagreement with HIAL’s policy,” she said.
“It would appear from the FOI that income from parking charges is not needed to keep the lights on at the airport, and with broken equipment that couldn’t cope with the weather it has been somewhat of a fiasco already.
“There are pragmatic and practical ways of ensuring reliable transport to the airport and I urge HIAL to look at this again.”
A spokesperson for HIAL said the company did not wish to respond to the latest concerns.
But it previously said the financial return from car parking is an income stream that will continue to help the company to meet the financial challenges it will face for the “foreseeable future”.
One of HIAL’s strategic priorities is to increase commercial revenue and develop new revenue streams across all its airports to lower the subsidy requirement and ultimately reduce the cost to the taxpayer, a spokesperson had added.
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