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Retailers angry at share of Crossrail costs
Pippa Crerar, Political Correspondent22 Oct 2007
Big retailers are worried by the funding package for Crossrail.
Businesses including John Lewis, Boots and Sainsbury's fear the plan to impose a supplementary business rate in London to help pay for the high-speed link is unfair.
The British Retail Consortium said it broadly supported Crossrail but believed the funding model was "ill-conceived and inequitable".
Director general Kevin Hawkins said: "Proportionally, retailers will end up contributing far more than they can ever hope to get back. Effectively-they will subsidise the biggest beneficiaries, one of which will be government."
It is estimated high street firms would have to pay at least £32million a year in rates on top of the £ 1.1billion they already pay - amounting to more than £800 million over the lifetime of the £16billion project.
With the Government and Transport for London paying £5 billion each, Ken Livingstone has indicated London companies would have to pay about £3billion extra, with the remaining £2 billion coming from key businesses on the route from Maidenhead to Shenfield via the City and Heathrow, including the Canary Wharf Group and BAA.
A spokesman for the John Lewis Partnership said: "Wewanted to see a funding model that reflects the benefits of the scheme to different parts of the economy. Business rates disproportionately impact on property intensive sectors, such as retail."
The retailers also want great clarity over the length of time they will have to pay the supplementary rate, thought to be 25 years, and whether it will be capped at two per cent.
John Cridland, deputy director general of the CBI, said the supplementary business rate should be "equitable, capped and not create a precedent for other infrastructure projects".
Tory mayoral candidate Boris Johnson said: "Crossrail is vital for London's future but it cannot be at the expense of retail, which is crucial to London's economy."
