Wednesday, November 15, 2006

More on those toll road plans

Quite a few calls are coming in about the congestion charging proposals now as their enormity sinks in. People are calling for additional petition forms too.

One or two have asked for more information and the full report can be found here. Details of the zone charging "example" are in chapter six.

The deadline for responses is much sooner than I had realised and is December 30th. It is likely there will be a second round of consultation following this.

So we need petitions back by the beginning of December!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am disappointed to see the Perry Barr councillors' are opposing any plans to introduce road user charging in the conurbation. From what I can see, locally the Lib Dems have opposed Midland Metro, allowed the council to install sub standard bus priority measures (presumably because of residents' unfounded complaints), and now oppose road user charging. It would be interesting to see the Perry Barr councillors put forward their suggestions to address congestion locally, to improve public transport, and most importantly identify where the funding is going to come from. The Liberal Democrats claim to support pro-public transport policy and policies to address climate change at a national level, but show no signs whatsoever of supporting it locally.

Road user charging could actually benefit the residents and the local economy. The Lib Dem's opposition shows a lack of willingness to think beyond short term political gain when it comes to transport policy. Traffic cannot be allowed to grow unrestrained. Good quality public transport needs to be put in place, and the money needs to come from somewhere - and road user charging is the only realistic funding mechanism. Yes, it means that people will have to change their travel habits - which is not unreasonable.

It is also disappointing to see the Liberal Democrats continue to support the Conservatives in Birmingham City Council in pursuit of their anti-public transport policies. When will the Lib Dems be pressing for the reinstatement of the Tyburn Road bus lanes?