A draft bill to allow local authorities to introduce pilot road charging schemes is to be tabled in Parliament. The  move comes after the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), called on the Government to put this road charging policy to the democratic test before implementation.

Steve Collie, FSB transport chairman, says: ‘These proposed local congestion charging schemes are to be run by local authorities in their clearly-defined areas. Councils should have local referendums to get popular approval for these schemes.

The Government was to give the go-ahead to a number of local congestion-charging schemes as a test before the introduction of a national road toll project. However, the FSB says it remains unconvinced of the fairness of the scheme and believes that if the Government is sure of its argument then it must win over the public in the chosen local areas, before imposing road pricing on them.

Collie adds: ‘Small firms employ 12 million people and produce 50 per cent of UK GDP. Road tolls could prove to be a huge knock to the economy and cost many jobs. The Government needs to re-think its plans before it does irreversible damage to UK businesses.’

According to the FSB, road taxes raise £45 billion per year for the Treasury but only £7 billion is reinvested in the roads. It is therefore calling for Government to enforce current rules and spending more on the transport network.