The type of ‘clean-air zone’ vehicle charges planned for many major city centres are already harming supply and footfall for stores in Birmingham.
From 14 June, drivers entering the city centre must pay £8 for cars and vans or £50 for HGVs if they do not meet emissions standards.
While 12 month exemptions are available for businesses based within the area, the new charges have affected customers and suppliers visiting stores.
NFRN Sandwell Valley branch president Ghanshyam Patel owns Frank Joiners Supermarket SuperShop in the city’s north-western jewellery quarter.
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With most nearby offices and shops shut during the pandemic, Patel’s store was forced to follow suit for several weeks and only recently saw footfall start to recover before the charges were introduced.
He told Better Retailing: “It’s affected a lot of people. Another business nearby is now having to deliver to people because less people are coming in.
“The people who work nearby are still here because they have to be, but people are a lot less willing to drive in.”
The retailer added Smiths News had also swapped around its drivers covering the clean-air zone due to contractor vehicle standards while rep visits had also been affected.
Meanwhile, in the south-west of the city centre, Highgate Newsagents normally benefits from high footfall brought by Birmingham Central Mosque less than a two-minute walk away.
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Both now sit just within the boundaries of the zone. One shop worker told Better Retailing: “Our milk supplier said they would no longer work with us because it wasn’t cost effective to drive in. It means we’ve had to go with a more expensive alternative supplier.
“We’ve got parking out front so we’d often get people popping in off of the ring road, but now it’s really quiet.
“On Fridays, you’d be stuck in traffic outside but even on that day there’s a lot less on the roads, and that affects our trade.”
It’s not just stores within the area that are affected. Cash and carry company HT Drinks opened a depot in the city centre in October 2020.
While a staff member told Better Retailing that they had not noticed any loss of trade, they confirmed a large number of customers would be liable for paying the charge in order to shop at the depot, due to the emissions standards of their vehicles.
The government lists Birmingham as England’s second area with clean-air-zone charges.
Bath was the first and similar measures are set to be introduced in Portsmouth and Newcastle later this year.
Other areas considering implementing clean-air zones include Bristol, Derby, Leeds and Manchester.
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