BRC warns that road charging may become general tax

The British Retail Consortium fears that local authorities will exploit road charging as a general revenue raiser unless the Transport Secretary retains a power of veto over such schemes. The comments come in response to the consultation on the Draft Local Transport Bill, which ended on Friday 7 September. It believes that Ruth Kelly should keep the power to approve or reject any local road-pricing scheme to avoid a town-by-town "free-for-all" which could result in a range of incompatible schemes - causing particular problems for national retailers.

BRC director general Kevin Hawkins says: "We believe ministerial oversight is an important safeguard. Ruth Kelly must ensure we get good schemes, consistency and transport benefits when the money raised is spent. "Unless local authorities are obliged to spend revenue from road-charging schemes on improving accessibility for customers, it will become just another general tax and the viability of retail outlets in the affected areas will be compromised." A spokesman says the BRC is not opposed to the idea of local road pricing in principle, as long as it shows benefits such as reduced congestion.