Concerns over road pricing schemes

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Road pricing represented a real opportunity to ease congestion and help the environment, the Local Government Association (LGA) said in a letter to the Department for Transport.

But council leaders warned that pricing schemes would simply not work in parts of the country because public transport in its current state did not offer drivers good enough alternatives.

The LGA said town halls were concerned that the money on offer for the first round of road charging trials was unlikely to be enough. While £1.4 billion has been set aside for all potential schemes, Manchester alone estimated that the cost of introducing an effective road pricing scheme could top £3 billion.

Allowing councils to borrow money against revenue raised from road pricing would be an effective way of allowing councils to invest in better public transport.

The LGA is calling for an overhaul of public transport that would allow councils to step in to develop a genuinely integrated transport system that would link up all kinds of local public transport, which would allow rail and bus services to link up more effectively and give councils the power to step in to guarantee important local bus services.

LGA transport spokesman Councillor David Sparks said: "It would be grossly unfair to force people out of their cars if there are not enough buses, trains and trams to give road users a viable alternative. This would simply be leaving drivers high and dry and force them into paying an unwanted tax."

He added: "Any scheme needs to convince local people that the benefits of road pricing will outweigh the costs and make sure that it is not seen as stealth taxation."

Responding to the LGA's claims Transport Minister Rosie Winterton said: "Government has not only made it clear that any local road pricing scheme must go hand in hand with better public transport, but has also given local authorities record levels of investment for this purpose.

"We have also said that any revenue raised by local road pricing schemes must be re-invested in local transport."