Businesses in London's C-charge Extension Zone to Cut Jobs

More than a third of company directors in London's c-charge Western Extension Zone expect to have to cut their own staffing levels when the scheme is introduced next February.

Some 36% of businesses expect to have to lay off employees. When asked about the wider economy the directors were even more downbeat: 77% expect the WEZ to impact negatively on staffing levels in the area.

The results come from a report by the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which conducted detailed telephone interviews with the directors of 201 companies either situated in, or doing business with, the WEZ.

The research found that:

• 82% of directors expected the WEZ to have a negative impact on their business as opposed to just four per cent who thought it would have a positive impact

• 25% of directors say they would consider re-locating their business as a direct result of the WEZ

• 96% of directors think that the Mayor ignored both public consultations on the WEZ

• 71% of directors thought that both the WEZ and c-charge could be improved by ending it at 1pm.

"These findings illustrate the economic madness of imposing the WEZ on west London," said LCCI president Michael Cassidy. "The fact that more than a third of directors expect to have to cut their own staffing levels bodes very ill for the area, especially if the London economy is as fragile in early 2007 as it is now."

"During interviews with the company directors a general feeling emerged that the WEZ is far too blunt an instrument for tackling the specific traffic problems of west London.

"There was scepticism about its economic viability. And a belief that an area in which many of the businesses are small or medium-sized could be much more badly damaged by the scheme than the central c-zone."