The Federation of Small Businesses, or FSB, says Sheffield Council is putting the future of firms under threat by increasing the cost of parking in on-street bays outside the city centre from 50p to 70p.
A decision on the charges will be made tomorrow, and a report by the council says the public do not need to be consulted.
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FSB South Yorkshire chairman Andrew Flower said: “The council has once again showed its disregard for the small independent shop-owners who were once the backbone of Sheffield’s retail economy.
“Having been driven out of the town centre by a combination of high rents and the council’s transport policies, it seems the council is now intent on finishing them off altogether.
“There is a plethora of shop premises around the city lying empty and derelict. This air of abandonment spreads like a contagion and, once it starts, whole areas can become run down and dilapidated very quickly when customers can no longer gain reasonable access.
“In taking this short-sighted ‘easy option’ method of raising revenue, the council is merely initiating tomorrow’s problem of derelict graffiti-strewn urban shopping centres.”
Business owners in Hillsborough reacted with dismay at the news, saying the increase would drive customers away.
Mr Flower agreed. He said: “While motorists are viewed as the council’s ‘cash-cow’, council officials need to pause and consider the knock-on effects of their parking policies on retailers in areas like Broomhill and Hillsborough, whose commercial viability is hanging by a thread.”
On Monday the council’s cabinet member for transport Mazher Iqbal distanced himself from the proposals, despite being named as a consulted member in the report. He said: “We don’t want to bleed more money out of people. It’s nonsense.”
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