Congestion charge 'drawing nearer'

8:51am Friday 9th November 2007

Councils in Sussex will be given new powers to introduce road pricing to tackle congestion under Government plans.

The Local Transport Bill will enable local authorities to push ahead with schemes to charge motorists for using the roads - without having to ask permission from ministers first.

In order to reassure motorists that the money raised will not be used to plug gaps in council budgets, rules will be introduced requiring every penny to be pumped straight back into improving transport in the area where charges are levied.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said it anticipated interested councils would choose "sophisticated" pay-as-you-drive schemes, which charged motorists per mile, with higher charges during busy periods, rather than more simplistic zoning systems like the one introduced in London.

Councils in Sussex have shown little interest in road pricing so far.

A bid by West Sussex County Council for funding for a feasibility study into a range of transport measures - including road pricing for Chichester - was rejected last year.

Councillor Tex Pemberton, responsible for transport, said there were no plans to go down the route of road pricing and the new Bill made no difference to this.

He said: "Our position has not changed.

"If road pricing was deemed to be in the best interests of the people in our county we would not hesitate in bringing it forward.

"Road pricing is a tool that's in the tool box but there are no plans at present to use this and we would not bring it forward without a full consultation."

The Government has so far received only two positive proposals for congestion charging - from Manchester and Cambridge - despite giving taxpayers' cash to ten areas to help them come up with projects.

But the DfT said any council could apply for a share of the £1.4 billion transport innovation fund to support the development of their own proposals.

A spokesman said: "If you have got congestion problems in your town then road pricing is a powerful way of tackling it.

If you think you have got a problem with congestion then get on and do something about it."

He added that the process of developing and introducing road pricing was a long one, with the first schemes not expected to

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