Parking excuses are a cop out
I REALISE that readers may well get bored with my letters concerning the introduction of car parking charges but I am also fed up with the hackneyed excuses from Babergh, especially "there is no other way to balance the budget" or "we will have to increase council tax".
I have just downloaded figures from the internet giving the actual rates paid by the newly expanded Tesco.
I have also taken the trouble to visit the Tesco complex and actually measure the total size of the plot which includes the store, car park, petrol station and shrubbery.
These are the figures. Rates paid: 564,573, Total area: 450,000 sq ft. It does not need a degree in maths to work out that this approximates 1.26 per sq ft.
I have now measured our small privately owned shop situated in a secondary position in Sudbury.
Rates paid: 5,411. Total area: 1,944 sq ft. This approximates 2.78 per sq ft.
Our rates do not even include the emptying of our wheelie bin which is an extra 500 per year and we would also have to pay a private firm to monitor our keyholder addresses as the police have even opted out of that!
Readers will immediately see that our shop is forced to pay 1.52 per sq ft more than the out-of-town superstore which also has the massive advantage of a free car park right outside its doors.
Just by fair treatment and levelling the playing field Tesco alone should be contributing nearly an extra 700,000 to the Babergh budget. I am sure that comparable figures could be obtained for Focus, Homebase, McDonald's, Halfords et al. Not only would the budget be balanced but there would be a surplus to fund improvements to the traffic flow in Sudbury.
Councillors will say that business rates are not decided by them but are fixed by national government and Babergh only act as debt collectors. However, this excuse is a complacent cop out by them. We vote them into office because they assure us that they are anxious to help us and look after our interests.
It is, therefore, my request and I am sure the request of most other shopkeepers that local councillors will lobby those higher up the food chain so that they, in turn, will put considerable pressure on Tim Yeo and his colleagues to bring this up in Parliament.
I have asked this question before: How many of those councillors who approve of car parking fees own or rent a shop in town or even have any idea of what it costs to run a retail business?
I am certain that readers would particularly like to hear from Patricia Rockall, John Hinton, Michael Miller and Nick Ridley as to how they would budget for a shop.
We have to make budgets and decisions on just how to survive each year without the huge advantage that they have of being able to spend other people's hard earned money and savings, never having to risk their own and possibly going bankrupt.
Let us also hear from Tim Yeo if he thinks that this unfair system of taxation is wrong and, if he gets into power, will he put it right?
It always seems to me that it makes for a quieter and easier life for some if they allow several lambs to be thrown from the village to placate the tigers that live outside!
IAN BERRY
Kestrel Bookshop
Friars Street
Sudbury
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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