Congestion charge: a Grumpy Old Man writes

Road pricing, the Government’s favoured policy for dealing with congestion, has been overwhelmingly rejected in a referendum in Manchester. There is now little chance of any pay-as-you-drive schemes being introduced for at least the next decade.

Manchester’s proposal for peak-time tolls of up to £5 a day was defeated by a majority of 4 to 1, with 79 per cent voting against. The scheme was rejected in separate votes in all 10 Greater Manchester boroughs taking part, in which just over a million people voted out of 1.9million balloted.

Voters were not persuaded by the promise of £1.5 billion of Government money for public transport, and 10,000 extra jobs created by the construction of new tram lines and improved buses and trains.

The result is a severe embarrassment to the Government, which created a £2billion fund dedicated to supporting local charging schemes. The fund is now likely to be reallocated to other projects or will simply become a victim of budget cuts.

Other cities considering similar pricing schemes, including Cambridge, Bristol and Leeds, will be forced to think again and may abandon their plans.

Labour politicians in Manchester, working closely with ministers at the Department for Transport, had tried everything they could to make the congestion charge scheme attractive to the majority.

The charge would not have been introduced until 2013, by which time 80 per cent of the public transport improvements would have been completed. There would also have been discounts for the low-paid and exemptions for parts of the city which would have to wait longer for improved public transport.

Only one in 10 people would have paid the charge and no drivers would have been affected in two thirds of households.

Geoff Hoon, the transport secretary, was last month accused of trying to bully Manchester into accepting congestion charging by stating that it would not get a penny of the £1.5billion if it voted no.

He said: “There is no plan B. I would not want people to be under any illusion about that.”

Asked if Manchester would get even a small proportion of what it needed if it voted no, Mr Hoon said: “None whatsoever. If the vote is no there will be no central Government funding. The rules are very clear.”

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