700 turn out to oppose enlarging the zone

About 700 residents attended a public meeting to oppose the extension of the congestion charge into west London.

The event last night was organised by the West London Residents' Association, which has gathered 5,500 signatures opposing the enlargement of the zone. It aims to collect 10,000 names within a month.

Merrick Cockell, Conservative leader of Kensington and Chelsea council, said: "This is the first time in my political experience I have attended a public meeting with close to 700 people turning out in half-term." He said Mayor Ken Livingstone had refused to attend the meeting and explain his plans, which went out to public consultation yesterday and would see the zone's western boundaries extended to Shepherd's Bush and the Chelsea Embankment.

Beverley Aspinall, managing director of the Sloane Square-based Peter Jones department store, which would fall inside an enlarged zone, said: "An extension to the congestion charge zone in the royal borough would be extremely damaging for retailing."

She said the John Lewis Partnership had paid around £100,000 last year in congestion charges just to get its delivery vans to and from its Oxford Street store. "I believe the congestion charge is a blunt instrument indeed and it has had unintended consequences which have not been properly acknowledged."