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Capital news!
Page 19
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TRUCK DRIVERS are unlikely to face widespread London-style congestion charges outside the capital because only one other city has shown serious interest in setting up a scheme. Alistair Darling admitted last week.
The Transport Secretary says Edinburgh is the only place that has a plan with a serious chance of going ahead.
Bristol. which was previously a front-runner for starting a scheme, lost its enthusiasm when Labour lost control of the council. while Manchester, Birmingham. Leeds and Cardiff have also cooled after initially expressing interest.
One reason for the unenthusiastic response may be that the 30% cuts in congestion achieved in London are unlikely to be repeated in cities which cannot match the range of public transport alterna tives available in the capital.
Councils may also be worried that any scheme could be superseded by long-term national plans for road lolls.
But a spokesman for Darling denies that the lack of any take-up means the government has missed one of its targets. "We never had a target on this," she says.
"It is a local matter and local conditions vary.