Local authority leaders from the Black Country were today fighting against plans to introduce road charging – arguing improvements need to be made in transport infrastructure before they can consider the plans.
A bid for government funding may be submitted without including provision for road charging, despite the fact £4million has been invested investigating the possibility and drawing up transport proposals.
Steve Eling, deputy leader of Sandwell Council, attended a meeting with the seven leaders of the West Midlands local authorities.
He confirmed the group will be applying for £4.4 billion of government cash – a bid which will be submitted to the government next week – to develop the extension of the Midland Metro but which will not include plans for road pricing.
This is despite the fact that the government has stated that bids including road pricing schemes will be viewed favourably.
The West Midlands group, made up of leaders from Sandwell, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Walsall, Coventry and Solihull, says it needs more time to look into the logistics of introducing some kind of pay-as-you drive scheme.
Authority leaders also argued people would not accept road pricing schemes without viable alternatives.
Ken Meeson, Solihull Council leader, said: “We have written to the government to say that yes, we are bidding for the Transport Innovation Fund, but making clear that there are a whole set of options we need to look at.
“We need more time. We need to have investment made in our transport systems in the West Midlands before we can look at any type of road charging.”
At the meeting yesterday the council leaders were still unable to come up with a comprehensive statement on their plans for the future.
They merely concluded the bid for funding should be submitted and gave the go-ahead for further studies on the impacts of road pricing.
Leaders stressed that transport improvements are vital to realise the region’s ambitions for regeneration and economic growth, and emphasised the need to tackle current levels of congestion by better use of the existing transport network.
9 Comments
any counciller who supports road charges will never receive my vote!
we already pay more to drive on the streets than many other countries. we have high tax on fuel, the current road tax system is a joke. instead of charging motorists even more. why dont they plough more money into public transport. if they really want to reduce the amount of traffic on the roads. start moving things that trucks and lorrys usually transport on the railways like we used to. many years ago we built a network of waterways to transport freight. many of the canals are rundown now, but could be used to shift freight around again, this would free up a lot of room on the roads
another money spinning scheme alongside speed cameras to rake in money without having to justify it.
be charged for breathing next
Where will the madness end?
Next we’ll be taxed for walking on the pavement.
Too little too late. Rather than investing heavily in the road infrastructure many years ago…most decided to do absolutely bugger all….and now its too late.
Well done.
Well, on our visits to the Midlands, I guess where there are road charges, we won’t be visiting.
Maybe the need to get rid of some Council employees and making others do a full days work, for a full days pay would save Councils huge amounts of money. Why more taxes on the public?
Karen, I dont agree with these parking charges either, But I hope when you mean “get rid of some council employes” you mean the ones who thought of this idea in the first place. I work for the local authority and I work damn hard, and dont get paid enough for what i do. I do a lot of work in the community. Please dont tarr us all with the same brush
a lot of us signed the petition against road pricing but it is still being slipped through on the quiet. when are the people who are supposed to represent us all listen to the voice of the real people. Councillors - wait until the next election if you vote for this measure i, for one will look to see where your loyalties lie
I find the whole idea of ‘road charging’ very insulting. Can I have a refund to all the road tax I paid that was never used on the roads?
And then you can take the charge out of that!
There should be no road charging. There are already enough taxes that road users have to pay, including road tax and parking fares. All of this should be covered by taxation that everyone has to pay.