Voters reject congestion charge

Published 12th Dec 2008

The people of Greater Manchester have voted against plans to introduce a congestion charge in the region.

Nearly two million people were asked to decide on a peak-time road charge to open up a £2.8bn transport investment.

A majority of voters in all of the region's 10 boroughs voted against the plans, with 812,815 (79%) no votes and 218,860 (21%) in favour of the charge.

It means the application for government Transport Innovation Fund (TiF) cash will not now go ahead.

The overall turnout across the 12 local authorities was about 53.2% with 1,033,000 people casting their vote.

The failed plan aimed to create the biggest road congestion zone in the UK, charging drivers up to £5 a day to drive into the city centre.

Graham Stringer, MP for Blackley in Manchester, a long-time opponent of the scheme, said he was "delighted" with the result.

"It's a brave politician that goes forward with such a scheme, unless it is an extraordinarily good scheme that virtually everybody benefits from," he said.

"It is a pity we have had to waste three years on this ill-thought out scheme which the public have seen through.

"We must now go back to government to talk about how they can invest in trams, trains and buses in Greater Manchester."

'Ill-conceived'

Immediately after the result was announced, officials in the 'Yes' campaign told BBC News they were "disappointed with the voting turnout".

Jason Torrence, who supported the charge, said: "This is a sad day. This was a innovative solution which would have put Manchester in the premier league of cities in the world."

Chris Hopkins, chief executive of Hydes Brewery in Moss Side, who was part of the 'No' campaign, said the charge of up to £1,200 a year on his employees was just too much for the promised improvements in transport.

"We thought it was ill-conceived and the people of Manchester did as well," he said.

The plans needed a majority in favour in at least seven local authorities to get the go-ahead.


VOTING TURNOUT (%)
Bolton, 48.8
Bury, 57.4
Manchester, 46.1
Oldham, 54.4
Rochdale, 50.8
Salford, 57
Stockport, 59
Tameside, 60.7
Trafford, 63.6
Wigan, 45.3


Those against the proposals claimed the charge would have been an unfair tax on motorists, while those in favour had maintained it was a chance to create the best public transport system in the UK.

Motorists would have paid to cross two charging rings at peak times. The outer ring roughly follows the M60 orbital motorway, while the inner ring surrounds the city centre.

Source: ' bbc '

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