Congestion Charging

Congestion charge - what the mayor saw

Feb 20 2004
By Transport Reporter Oscar Mortali

South London Press

THE congestion charge is NOT harming trade, according to Transport for London's (TfL) own report one year into the scheme.

Speaking on the first anniversary of the scheme on Tuesday, congestion charge director Malcolm Murray-Clark insisted concerns over the effect on business were "misguided".

The TfL report also points to its own survey of 700 businesses which found that factors other than the charge were a bigger influence on profit margins.

The claim directly contradicts concerns expressed by many independent traders who over the past year have told the South London Press that businesses were being crippled as a result of the £5-a-day scheme.

Mr Murray-Clark said: "The report shows that concerns over the effects on business are misguided and that negative perceptions are unsubstantiated."

Traffic-busting London Mayor Ken Livingstone said: "Before the introduction of the charge, London's roads were clogged with slow-moving traffic and congestion was costing business £2million a week.

"The scheme has made a real difference in getting London moving again."

The figures, on traffic levels at least, back up Mr Livingstone's claim.

One year on and central London has seen traffic delays slashed by 30 per cent and an 18 per cent reduction in cars entering the zone.

However, while an undoubted success in cutting traffic in Zone 1, concerns remain about the effect on business.

The report states the charge was introduced during a time when the economy was being affected by the knock-on effect of war in Iraq and the prolonged closure of the Central Line.

TfL concludes the charge was responsible for less than six per cent of the reduction in trips to central London.

A survey of 700 business, inside and within 500m of the zone, found that economic factors, tourism, company factors and seasonal changes were all placed above the charge as influences on business performance.

However, TfL's claims that business has not been harmed are not likely to cut any ice with traders in and around the zone in Kennington and Vauxhall where shopkeepers are shutting up shop.

They claim they are losing out on casual trade because fewer people are driving in and around the zone.

Many also claim the scheme is designed to catch out drivers and say the rule of 25 vehicles in a fleet to qualify for a discount is far too high to help small business with less than five delivery vans.

Conservative mayoral candidate Steve Norris, who has always said he would scrap the scheme if elected mayor in June's election, bemoaned the detrimental effect on businesses and said: "If this is Livingstone's idea of a better city, it certainly is not mine."

020 8710 6437 email: transport@slp.co.uk

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