London's affordable housing providers and councils set to be hit hard by £5-a-day levy
The Peabody Trust will have to pay £100,000 a year in central London congestion charges – and it is just one of many associations and councils set to be hit hard by the controversial levy.

The scheme, where drivers will pay £5 a day to enter central London, will com into force from 17 February.

The charge is a pet project of London mayor Ken Livingstone, but although the mayor has made affordable housing a priority in his draft London plan, registered social landlords and councils are not exempt from the charge.

Peabody Trust, which has 15 offices inside the zone including its head office, said it had conducted research that came up with the £100,000 figure.

Peabody will pay the charge for its own fleet of vehicles and for workers who have to use their cars as part of their job.

South-west London-based Family Housing Group also fears that there will be heavy traffic outside its south London office, which is 100 yards from the border of the charging zone in Clapham, as people rush to leave central London before charging starts at 7am.

London councils affected by the charge have adopted a 'wait and see' policy', but have said they will monitor the impact of the charges in its first months.

Ronnie Clawson, human resources director at the Peabody Trust, said he intended to write to the Greater London Authority to stress the impact the charge would have on the trust's work. Clawson said: "This is £100,000 less to invest in our core business."

He added: "We may need to look at essential car users. We may need to increase the number of company vehicles and people could use those [for work instead of their own cars]."

Such a move would mean the trust no longer had to pay a charge for people to bring their own cars to work.

A spokesman for the mayor said there were no plans to exempt housing associations from the charge. He said: "We have been looking at exemptions and discussed the issue incredibly carefully and we do not anticipate any changes.

"If we have too many exemptions, you do not cut congestion. We have tried to focus people's minds on how they might benefit.

"If the control area is clogged up, it's stopping people like Peabody getting around.

"We have set the charge as low as we possibly can."

Source

Housing Today