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Manchester gives green light to C-charge

27/07/2007

Manchester council leaders have backed a proposed congestion charging scheme for the city, reports the Manchester Evening News.

The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) gave the scheme the green light with a vote of eight to two in favour.

Stockport and Trafford councils were the only opponents in the vote, but anti-charging protesters were vocal in their disapproval of the scheme as the representatives of the ten district councils arrived at the meeting.

Officials now face the stiff task of putting together the city's bid for the scheme and the £3 billion of public transport improvements it would mean for the city.

The Manchester Evening News reports that the plans for the C-charge are now very different to those originally revealed in February.

The paper reports that an independent regulator may be appointed to prevent any future alterations to the scheme, the proposed evening peak charging hours of 4pm to 6.30pm could be altered to better reflect journey patterns, the number of planned yellow school buses could be doubled and the number of park and ride spaces could be trebled to 10,500.

The bid is for a £1.2 billion grant from the Transport Innovation Fund and a government loan of £1.8 billion to make other public transport improvement.

Leader of the city council, Sir Richard Leese, said: "We need huge improvements in transport to ensure that our region continues to thrive.

"We are all currently paying a hidden tax because of congestion, which causes delays, damages air quality and makes our economy less competitive."

Sir Richard said that the region stood to lose out on up to 30,000 jobs in the next 15 years if improvements were not made to the city's transport system.


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