Sauchiehall Street<\/a> is looking less like a building site.\n<\/p>\n\n Of course, everything always looks better in the sunshine. And with small business confidence still patchy, we mustn\u2019t get carried away. \u00a0Increased footfall doesn\u2019t necessarily equal higher customer spend.\u00a0 And higher turnover doesn\u2019t automatically mean more profit. But \u2013 at long last \u2013 things seem to be moving in the right direction.\n<\/p>\n
\n So there was a sharp intake of breath from many Glasgow businesses when the City Council announced it was exploring both an out-of-town congestion charge and tolls on the Clyde Tunnel, on top of its new Visitor Levy.\n<\/p>\n
\n Unless this is the Cartman Strategy (named after the South Park character who, on inheriting an amusement park, accidentally strikes marketing gold by telling the public they\u2019re not allowed in, thus sending demand through the roof), it\u2019s an odd approach for a city keen on attracting visitors.\n<\/p>\n
\n We all get the importance of tackling the climate crisis. Indeed, most small businesses are already changing their operations as they move towards net zero.\u00a0 But government policy in this area must take into account the impact on the small businesses which make our cities work.\n<\/p>\n
\n If we want to see city centres returning to something like they used to be, we need to listen to the traders who sustain them.\n<\/p>\n
\n Our research shows seven out of ten Scottish small firms rely on a vehicle for their day-to-day operations. That might be a wholesaler using their van to deliver fresh produce to city kitchens and cafes, or an emergency plumber getting themselves and their tools to where their customers need them.\n<\/p>\n
\n On top of that, staff in bars and restaurants may rely on cars to get to and from work in the city centre at all hours of day and night when public transport isn\u2019t a viable option.\n<\/p>\n
\n So, in many different ways, it\u2019s the vans, trucks and cars of its small businesses and their staff that keep a city working.\n<\/p>\n
\n A congestion charge and tunnel tax would simply add to the growing cost of running businesses at a time when nine out of ten small firms continue to see their operating costs rise.\u00a0 For some, the extra daily charge for them, their suppliers and customers might be enough to prompt their relocation out of the city.\n<\/p>\n
\n And there\u2019s a wider economic risk. With a quarter of the country\u2019s small businesses targeting growth in the next year \u2013 but two fifths of them warning rising labour costs and taxes might thwart those ambitions \u2013 you can see how fragile the situation is.\n<\/p>\n
\n There\u2019s a lot to look forward to in Glasgow in the year ahead.\u00a0 Next month, for example, it\u2019s lights, camera, action for filming of another Hollywood blockbuster.\u00a0 And then there\u2019s the return of the Commonwealth Games<\/a> in the summer \u2013 projected to generate more than \u00a3150 million for the wider economy.\n<\/p>\n\n Wouldn\u2019t it be great if we could just keep this feel-good (or, at least, feel better) factor building until then? That would make far more sense than slamming the brakes on thousands of small businesses\u2019 growth plans by hiking costs and driving away their customers.\n<\/p>\n
\n Colin Borland is director of devolved nations for the Federation of Small Businesses\u00a0<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But that\u2019s just me being selfish. You won\u2019t hear many city centre businesses complaining about the vast number…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7826],"tags":[748,918,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-371914","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-glasgow","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-glasgow","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115088547005770174","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}