CONGESTION CHARGING

Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
 

Congestion usually results when a local authority decides to tamper with traffic management and/or road maintenance schemes by introducing lower speed limits, ill-conceived road narrowing and traffic-calming measures. Collectively these actions slow traffic flow, thus creating congestion where once there was none. All existing roads carry increasing numbers of vehicles and, instead of slowing things down, speeding up the flow of traffic safely through known busy areas must be the prime consideration in order to reduce congestion.

"Congestion Charging" is the latest high-tech weapon under development and is the favoured term for plans to impose tolls on roads into cities and towns. Anyone who drives in a city or town will know that there is an ongoing policy of closing roads, reducing road space with bus and cycle lanes, removing parking spaces, making roads one-way for no good reason, tinkering with traffic light timings, covering the road in coloured paint, and numerous other dirty tricks. Every week another malicious obstruction of the public highway is orchestrated by those who have power to abuse. This is a determined attempt to create congestion in order to justify a charge to remove it.

Councillor Sara Bolton, said reports that Derby was considering introducing congestion charging were "nonsense" and "totally untrue". The denial came despite the fact that Derby is on a Government list of 35 local authorities outside London to have considered introducing a toll for city centre motorists. Ms Bolton also claimed the council had never registered any interest in congestion charges with the Government's Department for Transport. But a spokesman for the department confirmed the council had expressed an interest through its 2000 local transport plan.

"There is nothing in place to introduce congestion charges in Derby," Ms Bolton said. "In fact, we have categorically ruled it out as an option. Congestion charging is not part of Derby City Council's current transport policy. I don't think it would be practical here." The mixed messages came hours after the Greater London Authority started charging motorists to drive through the capital's centre.

Derby City Centre Management Team chairman Mike Matthews is vigorously opposed to the idea of such charges in Derby. "I think they would deter casual visitors to the city centre, and so sound a death knell for many small businesses," he explained. "The public transport infrastructure here is just not adequate to cope if people were deterred from taking their cars."

Watch this space....

Well, it didn't take long, did it? Congestion charging together with urging people to use public transport and subsidising bus services are ideas which the city council believes could help Derby become more environmentally friendly. Pete Price, the council's transportation policy manager, said, "If a charge was imposed in congested areas, people may appreciate the cost of their journey on the environment and this solution does bring in an income."

He added, "Congestion charging could bring in millions of pounds a year. This money could then be ploughed back into the transport system, for example, to subsidise the bus network." Notice that the council are not considering this charge as a way of reducing congestion, but rather as a means of increasing revenue. They're already counting the £££'s. We all know that the money would NOT be ploughed back into the transport system and people would simply find an alternative route.

The council would also like to promote the use of alternative fuels, low-emission buses and electric vehicles and to make it easier for people to walk and cycle around the city. The council is also looking at the possibility of subsidising more bus services and introducing more park and ride services. Encouraging more people to car share and put in place work and school travel plans is something else the council would like to do.

Derby City Council's Labour group believe congestion charges could be imposed in the city centre in the future. Derby has seen a 5% increase in traffic congestion between 1997 and 2004, according to figures released by the Department for Transport. The increased congestion has led the Lib Dem party to call for a wide-ranging road-charging scheme designed to deter motorists from inner-city areas. The city council's ruling Labour group also warned that something needed to be done to stem the increase in traffic.

Councillor Martin Repton, cabinet member for planning and transportation, does not rule out congestion-charging. He said, "We need to have a range of imaginative initiatives to deal with it. We need to encourage those who drive into the city centre and leave their cars there all day to find alternative forms of transport. While there are no immedate plans to introduce such a charge in Derby we need to look at ways to tackle congestion, and this might or might not include some form of congestion charge." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph)

Councillor Sara Bolton, said in 2003, that reports Derby was considering introducing congestion charging were "nonsense" and "totally untrue". She said, "There is nothing in place to introduce congestion charges in Derby. In fact, we have categorically ruled it out as an option. Congestion charging is not part of Derby City Council's current transport policy. I don't think it would be practical here." How times change.

Next >>>