Independent retailers in Shrewsbury town centre would be left bankrupt if a controversial congestion charge was introduced, it has been claimed.
Borough councillor Claire Wild told last night’s Shrewsbury Question Time that sole traders helped make the town centre unique.
But she warned many would face financial ruin brought on by a fall in trade if the new road pricing scheme was introduced to the river loop.
The scheme is being considered by Shropshire County Council, which has been investigating road pricing as part of a package of measures to tackle congestion problems and air quality in Shrewsbury.
However Councillor Wild told audience members at the Music Hall it was not worth the risk of using Shrewsbury as an experiment to see if such a scheme worked.
She said: “It would be too late for the sole traders of the town who would be bankrupted and gone.”
Options being considered as part of the scheme include toll roads, pay-per-mile, pay to enter zones and congestion charging.
But Councillor Wild suggested the introduction of an electronic tram system as the best way of reducing town centre congestion.
Borough council leader Peter Nutting said he was against congestion charges and said many shoppers would instead take their business to Chester and Telford.
He fears Shrewsbury was being blackmailed into accepting congestion charging so it would generate vital funding for the controversial £70 million North West Relief Road.
But Labour leader Danny Moore argued something needed to be done to take traffic out of the centre.
5 Comments
It seems to me that the whole issue of congestion charges is yet another way of making monmey out of the people of Shrewsbury via SABC. Despite all the opposition, they seem reluctant to actually listen to the traders of this town and the public. Yes there is some congestion as in every town and city in the country at peak times such as traveling to work and the school run. All that will happen is that people such as myself who rely on on street parking will find people parking in my area of town to aviod paying the charges and then I and others will be hoodwinked into having a permit scheme. Yet more money for SABC who will have no traders in the town anyway.
I am shocked by this. London is understandable but Shrewsbury!!!
It won’t be long before this sort of thing comes in accross all the major welsh towns.
How about cutting off the whole town via a moat and charge people to get out of the town?
For many reasons, I am totally opposed to the North West Relief Road, and yet the ‘illusion’ of congestion in Shrewsbury has been repeatedly cited as the main justification for the road. Recently even the main proponents have stated publicly that there is very little congestion, yet, bizarrely, they are still backing the Road! Wake up to the massive environmental damage this road would cause, drop the idea of a Shrewsbury-only congestion charge (this idea has already sent out an unwelcome message that Shrewsbury does have an awful lot of congestion, so should be avoided!)and spend a fraction of the sums involved on a radical re-think of the traffic junctions in the town. We don’t want a ‘world-class transport system’ if it means living in a third class town indistinguishable from (dare I say it) Telford. from Nowaygroup@tiscali.co.uk
What congestion? the only minor hold up in Shrewsbury Town Centre is on refuse collection day.