Congestion charge hit for small business
The Forum of Private Business (FPB) claim the Transport Secretary and his senior transport adviser are signing the death certificate of countless small firms with their 'gung-ho approach to congestion charging'.
The Forum of Private Business said Alistair Darling and David Begg are failing to grasp the huge impact congestion charging schemes have on small businesses.
The FPB conducted a survey of 500 small firms in London last month and found that three in five had seen profits drop since the congestion charge was introduced in February 2003. Meanwhile, a third had thought of relocating, and two thirds reported a drop in footfall of clients and customers.
The FPB's Chief Executive Nick Goulding said Mr Darling's comments, at the recent Local Government Association Conference where he urged councils to come up with 'imaginative' ways to tackle congestion, would terrify small business owners. In response to Mr Darling's comments David Begg, Chairman of the Integrated Transport Commission said he was 'pleased the Government is giving national leadership on this.'
Nick Goulding said: "Mr Darling and Mr Begg are quite clearly not giving a second thought to the appalling effect congestion charging will have on private businesses. How on earth can Mr Darling claim that road user charging is cost neutral when for small business the contrary is true as our survey in London has shown.
"Mr Darling and Mr Begg are guilty of being breathtakingly short-sighted. They must realise in their rather childlike enthusiasm for road user charging that small and medium sized businesses are the backbone of the UK economy. They provide more than 12 million jobs, employ 58 per cent of private sector workers and contribute 52.4 per cent of the UK's GDP.
"If the Government starts crippling small firms by depriving them of their lifeblood, then the UK economy is going to be massively undermined. Small businesses are finding it hard enough to compete already and more road user charging will only drive motorists to the out-of-town shopping centres and supermarkets which are outside charging zones and where parking is free. If Mr Darling and Mr Begg get their way small businesses will be killed off and replaced by soulless high street chains, leading to more clone towns."
Mr Goulding said more roads should be built to ease congestion, rather than introducing widespread road tolls. He added it was astonishing that only 14p out of every £1 the motorist pays in tax is reinvested into the roads.
Jim Allen, Partner Optimism Design Ltd, London SW15, said: "The congestion charge has massively increased the tax burden on small businesses and it has already forced many firms to go under. Increasing it and extending it is going to put even more pressure on small firms."