National road charging trial
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The Transport Secretary Alistair Darling today announced that road charging schemes would be trialled in seven local councils around the country
Speaking to the CBI annual conference in London, Alistair Darling said the seven councils - including Manchester, Tyne and Wear, Bristol and Cambridge - would receive £18 million over two years to test whether road charging could be rolled out nationally.
The seven areas are:
* Bristol City Council, Bath and North East Council, North Somerset Council and South Gloucestershire Council
* Cambridgeshire
* Durham County Council (for Durham City)
* Greater Manchester
* Shropshire County Council (for Shrewsbury)
* Tyne and Wear
* West Midlands conurbation
'We can and we will make a real difference to managing our roads and reducing congestion. Doing nothing is not an option,' Mr Darling said. 'We need to exploit the new technology that's coming on stream to help us.'
Elsewhere in his speech, the Transport Secretary stressed the need to continue spending increases on roads and rail to compensate for historic under-investment.
Taking questions from the audience, Mr Darling said, however, that continued spending increases must be accompanied by prioritisation of transport projects - something he admitted Britain had 'not done well' in the past.
He acknowledged concerns over the length of time taken to get approval for major projects, saying the planning system 'needs to be improved' or it would prevent Britain from keeping pace with its economic rivals.
Environmental concerns were important, and if they were significant enough then projects should be called off, he said. But to spend 'years' arguing about environmental and social impacts was 'nonsense' and the planning process must be speeded up.
Asked about the Manchester Metro extension, Mr Darling said the Government had refused permission because costs had risen from an initial projection of £250 million to £900 million, and no government would have signed a 'blank cheque' for such a project.
However, in recent months the Government had had 'constructive' discussions with the people in charge of the project and he was confident that some extension would take place.
Mr Darling denied suggestions that London and the Olympics were 'sucking away' transport funds from the rest of the country, saying that 'substantial sums' had been invested in cities such as Liverpool and Manchester and that many of the Olympics projects would have had to have been funded in any case.
