U-turn on road pricing
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by Guy Sheppard • In a move widely perceived as a Government Uturn, transport secretary Brian Mawhinney is to defer making a decision on road pricing despite the completion of a three-year study into its likely impact on London.
The report, which cost £3 million, looked at various forms of pricing in areas bounded by the M25. It is well known such a policy is a controversial political issue and would also add thousands of pounds to operators' running costs. The report's findings are being reviewed by Department of Transport officials before being made public this summer.
But in a speech to Leeds and Bradford Chamber of Commerce, Mawhinney said further issues still needed to be examined before the Government could formulate a policy.
These included how to persuade people of the benefits, the level of pricing necessary to reduce congestion and choosing a system that can be enforced in an urban area. "Introducing city congestion charging would be a major—and controversial— undertaking, said Mawhinney. "At the moment, it is unrealistic for we do not have the necessary information about its potential consequences—good or bad."
The London survey, compiled by transport consultants MVA, focused on the most heavily congested routes. Similar studies, funded jointly by the DOT and local authorities, have been carried out in Bristol and Cambridge.