Council faces legal action over free car parking for worshippers

The National Secular Society is bringing a legal challenge to Woking Borough Council’s policy of allowing free parking to worshippers.

The NSS said it had launched the case after receiving complaints from residents in the borough.

The society claimed that the free parking cost local taxpayers more than £50,000 per year. It also argued that it amounted to “direct discrimination on the grounds of religion and belief”, contravening the Equality Act.

Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the National Secular Society said: "The equal treatment of all, regardless of belief or non-belief, is a key secular principle. We have launched this challenge to preferential treatment of worshippers because it is neither legitimate nor lawful for local government to subsidise the activities of any particular religion and belief group.

"It would be fairer if the council either charged worshippers for parking, as they do everyone else, or provided free parking for all."

The NSS said Woking had tried to justify its preferential treatment of worshippers in a policy statement stating that: "Places of worship, and the faith communities that they serve, play an important role, both in society in general and Woking in particular. They encourage people to participate in society, thereby promoting social inclusion."

However, the society pointed to an equality impact assessment commissioned by Woking in response to a previous NSS complaint.

According to the society, this urged the borough council “to also consider that secular activities also promote social inclusion and are as important as religious observance to building and maintaining the social as well as the economic fabric of communities”.