Labour councillors in Monmouthshire have come under fire from opposition parties for proposing a 3,000 per cent increase in charges for high street businesses to use the pavement outside shops, cafes and restaurants.

Under proposed budget plans, high street businesses would need to purchase a pavement café licence costing up to £350 - an increase of £340 on the charge that is currently levied on some businesses.

The proposals are forecast to raise £6,000 towards plugging the council’s projected funding gap of £23million.

The opposition Conservative group has called on the council’s administration to ditch the plans.

Cllr Richard John said, “High street businesses have had an incredibly tough time through the pandemic and the council should be supporting those businesses by helping to increase footfall.

“Instead the new Labour administration is proposing a ridiculous 3,000 per cent increase in charges for shops, cafes and restaurants. Since the pandemic began high street businesses have been encouraged to use more outdoor space, but now they’re set to be stung with a bill for hundreds of pounds.

“In the grand scheme of a budget shortfall of £23million out of a total budget of a third of a billion pounds, these proposals raise just £6,000 which is peanuts for the council but represent big sums for small independent shops, cafes and restaurants.

“The council should be supporting our high streets, not burdening our businesses with charges and red tape. These proposals are anti-business and need to be binned.”

Two years ago Mommouthshire County Council offered grants of up to £8,000 to town centre businesses in Abergavenny who wanted to create extra outdoor trading spaces in a bid to boost recovery for businesses hit by the pandemic and who lost many trading hours when forced to close during lockdown.

The Town Centre Outdoor Adaptation Grant – first rolled out in 2020 – offered businesses the chance to secure funding to cover up to 70 per cent of the cost of a business’ proposed project

Funded through the Welsh Government’s Transforming Towns Programme, the grant enabled businesses to invest in external improvements and equipment such as outdoor seating, tables, awnings, café barriers, lighting and heating.

Speaking at the time Councillor Sara Jones, deputy leader of Monmouthshire County Council, said: “It’s great news that we are able to offer this support again.

‘‘In the 2020 – 2021 financial year this grant scheme helped more than 40 businesses in our five main towns, with £215,000 awarded.

‘‘Businesses purchased tables and chairs, parasols, canopies, bins, café barriers. This outside trading has not only helped individual businesses during a difficult year of trading but has contributed to the vibrancy and vitality of our town centres.

“As with the successful applications last year, any measures that are introduced as a result of successful grant funding should benefit both the business, but also help improve the look of our high streets, creating a welcoming trading and café culture environment.

‘‘These are not short-term measures, it’s hoped that through investment in good quality attractive seating, planters, awnings, etc., the benefits of this scheme will, we hope, be long lasting and will help enhance our town centres further.”

Now, however it seems these investments have backfired on local business owners.

According to the budget papers the increased levy is to cover the cost of changes to town centres introduced during pandemic to support outdoor food and drink trade.

According to the budget papers, “During this period a notional fee of £10 was charged for the licence which is required to trade on the public highway as is indemnity insurance. There is no additional charge (e.g. business rates increase). The licences last for 12 months.

“It is proposed to increase the fees charged to recover the costs of delivering this service. There will also be enforcement activity to ensure compliance with licences and removal of unlicenced trading areas. It is proposed to set the fees on a tiered basis of £150 for small proposals, £250 for medium and £350 for large proposals based on area/number of covers. £100 of this fee is to cover the legal department’s costs: should an application for a licence be rejected, this part of the fee will be returned to the customer less a small administration charge. An income of £6,000 is predicted.”

MCC leader Councillor Mary Ann Brocklesby defended the proposed increase saying that there would not be an increase of 3,000 per cent and adding that it had never been 'on the cards'.

"We are, after consultations, reviewing all elements of our proposed budget based on the feedback we have had from residents and councillors. The proposed budget that will go to council on the March 2 will reflect what has been shown to matter most to the people of Monmouthshire," said Cllr Brocklesby