A long-standing business is being forced to move away from its city centre premises by Clean Air Zone charges that have driven customers away.
The Yorkshire Decorators Centre has been based close to Sheffield city centre for 22 years but has had a £50,000 drop in turnover following the introduction of the city’s Clean Air Zone (CAZ) and now operates at a loss.
Van driving tradesman who use the business won’t pay the £10 a day charge and are using suppliers outside the charge zone instead.
Tony Gallagher, managing director of the Yorkshire Decorators Centre, criticised the anti-pollution scheme for forcing businesses like his out of the city centre.
He said he introduced a range of initiatives to help customers, even giving a £10 discount to cover the charge fee, tradesmen customers ‘refused on principal’ to pay the council charge.
Mr Gallagher said he had now secured new premises outside the charge zone in Darnall but must pay to refit the shop.
The business has been based in the Gibraltar Street premises since 2003.
Mr Gallagher said: ‘We are a small family business and have been at this location close to Sheffield city centre for 22 years now, but the reality is we can no longer afford to stay here and we certainly can’t afford to keep trading at a loss.’
Pictured: Lauren Whiting and Tony Gallagher of the Yorkshire Decorators Centre, who say they are being forced to move away from Sheffield city centre after 22 years
The Yorkshire Decorators Centre (pictured) has had a £50,000 drop in turnover following the introduction of the city’s Clean Air Zone and now operates at a loss
When the CAZ launched in February 2023 it had an ‘immediate affect on our business,’ he said. ‘We deal with a lot of decorators and many of them have older vehicles that don’t comply with the emission standards.
‘We tried all sorts of schemes. We started deliveries and then credited the charge when they came in. If they bought a couple of cans of paint I would credit them the £10 that it cost them to come in but only one person took that up.
‘A number of them wouldn’t on principal pay the money to the council. I said ‘I will pay it back to you’ but they wouldn’t.’
He said annual turnover had dropped by around 20 percent since the charge zone began. The company employs four people in total.
Problems with long-running roadworks to build the city’s first Dutch roundabout – giving priority to pedestrians and cyclists over vehicles – also caused problems.
Commenting on CAZ, he said: ‘I’m very happy to support a Clean Air Zone, I think the stupidity of what’s happened in Sheffield is that the tradesmen are still working but outside the centre of Sheffield, so they are taking all that air into the residential areas.
‘So you can go shopping in Sheffield centre but there is nobody there. It’s desperate when you walk through it, but the council is so dismissive.’
The zone scheme doesn’t charge private cars, motorcycles and lower-polluting vehicles. Taxis and vans must pay £10 a day and buses and HGVs £50 if they don’t comply with emissions standards.
Pictured: The site of the Decorators Centre in 1980 as compared to the Gibraltar Street site now
Councillor Ben Miskell, Chairman of Sheffield Council’s transport, regeneration and climate policy committee, said there had been a 70 percent reduction in the highest polluting vehicles in the city centre as a result of the scheme and that 88 percent of vans travelling in the city centre were now compliant.
He told the Yorkshire Post: ‘We are seeing more businesses move into the city centre than leave. This is creating more jobs and boosting our economy in the process.
‘This is a positive sign that our regeneration plans are working. Consumer behaviour continues to change post pandemic and businesses like Yorkshire Decorating Centre will make their own commercial decisions about where to base themselves.
‘We’ve been monitoring vehicle movements following launch of the zone and there hasn’t been a decline in the number of vans travelling within the zone.’
Share or comment on this article:
Family-run decorating firm is forced to move out of city after Clean Air Zone ruined business