FINANCE Minister Sammy Wilson faces a plea for aid from Belfast retailers traders as the cost to the city in lost trade due to the flag protests was set as high as £15 million.
The figure from the employers’ organisation the CBI came yesterday as Belfast Chamber of Trade head Joe Jordan said business closures as a resut of the crisis had already begun.
He said plans were underway for a meeting of all city retailers next week aimed at formalising their approach to Mr Wilson in a bid to win a rates rebate and whatever further relief they could to buy traders time to regroup.
Mr Jordan also repeated his criticism of the council for failing to anticipate the furore created in the wake of the Union Flag debate.
That was dismissed by the Lord Mayor Gavin Robinson who pledged ongoing suport for the traders in the city.
The £15 million figure came as a top end estimate from the CBI whose regional director Nigel Smyth said the cost was significant wherever it fell.
“We are aware that figures quoted before Christmas estimated the loss of revenue to Belfast City retailers, following flag protests in the city, were around £10m-£12m,” he said.
“Based on these estimates and following the continued protests in the city, we would envisage that figure to have risen to between £10m-£15m.”
Speaking after an emergency meeting held with retailers on Wednesday afternoon Mr Jordan said rumours of a rates strike circulating in recent days were no more than that and unhelpful.
“We as an organisation cannot support a rates strike because that would be illegal,” he said.
“What we are planning to do is to seek a meeting with the Finance Minster Sammy Wilson at which we will be asking for a rates rebate for the last quarter of 2012 to help traders recoup some of their losses.
“We would also be asking for a rates holiday for the first quarter of 2013 to give those businesses some space to recover.”
Stating that Cafe Nero on Royal Avenue had ceased trading as a direct result of the disruption to trade, he said there was plenty of evidence to suggest that some traders at least had been badly hit.
“I had one clothes retailer on the phone earlier this week. Instead of taking £11,000 a day as he had been expecting he was taking £2,000.”
With rates hitting £500,000 a year for the largest stores, Mr Jordan said it was important to note that income from businesses accounted for 70 per cent of the City Council’s annual revenues.
“Why did that debate have to be held on December 3?” he said.
“I’m not going to get involved in the political debate, I just want to know why it could not have been put off to the new year.
“November [trade] was up on last year and all the signs were that we were going to have a brilliant December.”
Speaking at City Hall yesterday afternoon, Mr Robinson said he hoped today’s meeting of the Strategic Policy and Resources committee would bring forward initiatives to aid the retail sector but said the council had no power to defer or suspend the paymemnt of rates.
He denied that the council bore any significant responsibility for the trouble that arose as a consequence of the flag vote but said it was fully aware of the situation traders faced in its aftermath.
“We are responsible in so far as the decision took place in the city council at the start of December and we worked through our workstream as planned.
“I think it is important to say, and I haven’t heard it said yet, that nobody predicted the sort of reaction that was seen on the streets of Belfast or across the province in advance of the vote,
“That’s not to ignore that it has had an impact on traders and I think it is imnportant to say that, on December 14, we put together a package of £140,000, very quickly, simply to encourage an increase footfall in the city centre.
“That was a direct response to traders and it was important that we did respond practically and, now, I think is is similarly important that we respond practically in the new year.”
Offering tacit support for the traders in any bid to seek rates relief, he said there were a number of factors influencing his view.
“A holiday from paying rates raises issues about where the money to run this council would come from,” he said.
“We would need to the see the detail of it, see what was involved, how it would benefit the traders and the truth is there’s a mixed bag of responses from the traders.
“Victoria Square has indicated to us that they were one per cent down by December 24 on last year’s trade and they have indicated that after Christmas there was a 16 per cent growth in trade on last year’s figures so, for Victorira Square, they weren’t hampered by protests and certainly not economically adversely affected.”
CastleCourt had also traded well he said though he conceded that many restaurants had suffered through lost business and stock that was unrecoverable.
“I think we need to get a far clearer picture of the implications that have been faced by businesses in the city.
“If it is feasible to do it, if it is practical do it and it is something that the Minister can do and it helps traders, then, it would be foolish not to support it, but there’s a lot variables in the run-up to that and it wil be interesting to see how that discussion unfolds.”