Road charging plans to be shelved?

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

National charging plans could become local
Voter backlash could be the cause
DfT says 'no change in policy', though

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There are strong indications that the Government may be about to ditch plans for national road charging, according to The Daily Telegraph newspaper.

The Department for Transport (DfT) is expected to announce that it will shelve road-charging plans when it responds to a report from a parliamentary committee into the draft Local Transport Bill later this week.

The bill is intended to encourage councils to introduce schemes to reduce congestion in their areas, including congestion charging.

However, the Telegraph has quoted a section of the DfT's response, which says: 'It is not the department's intention, at this stage, to take the separate powers needed to price the national road network.

'We agree there are congestion problems on parts of the strategic road network, but 88% of congestion is in urban areas. Therefore, it is sensible to prioritise the assessment of road pricing in these areas.'

However, a DfT spokeswoman refuted the claims, saying: 'There is no change in policy.'

She said that the local transport bill is designed only to put powers in place to encourage councils to create anti-congestion plans locally.

'Should a national scheme be warranted, we would need to have new legislation to allow that to happen,' she added.

Voters unhappy
Many motorists are unhappy with plans for road charging. A Downing Street online petition gathered more than 1.8 million names, and the Telegraph has been running a campaign to have the plans ditched.

Local schemes, such as the Government originally wanted, aren't going ahead because of their unpopularity with motorists.

Local authorities already have the powers to introduce road-pricing plans, but aren't using them because they are worried about the backlash from voters, according to Gwyneth Dunwoody, the chair of the Transport Select Committee.

'We have a lack of engagement by local authorities, who have been given extra powers and are not prepared to use them,' she told The Guardian newspaper.

However, Manchester has said that its bid to create a two-zone congestion charge will go ahead anyway. It is the only part of the UK to submit a bid to the Transport Innovation Fund.

'In terms of Manchester's bid, the process has not been affected,' said Roger Jones, chairman of the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority.