Highlands and Islands MSP Donald Cameron has pledged his support for an initiative to prevent islanders being unfairly taxed for parking at work.

Mr Cameron is backing a Scottish Conservative amendment to the Transport Bill, which is being debated tomorrow (Wednesday 9th October), to require local authorities to carry out an island communities impact assessment before introducing the car park tax in an island community.

Mr Cameron said: “We saw a very strong reaction in Mull to an unwise proposal to introduce parking charges that would have had a disproportionately severe impact on residents, and I want to make sure that we do not see similarly ill-advised schemes elsewhere in the Highlands and Islands.

“Our island communities often have to shoulder the burden of high travel costs and there may be few, if any, public transport alternatives to using a car.  We must not make it even more challenging to sustain our island communities by adding further charges.

“I welcome this initiative and hope that the Scottish Government will adopt the amendment.”