Road charging is now ‘inevitable’, according to the Local Government Association, but must be introduced alongside major public transport investment.
Sir Rod Eddington’s report Transport’s role in sustaining UK’s productivity and competitiveness: The case for action released last week for the Treasury, recommends road charging alongside improving existing transport networks.
Road charging had been debated by the LGA for a number of years, according to Cllr David Sparks, chair of the association’s transport board.
But he warned that money raised through road charging must be used to invest in transport and not be seen as another tax. The LGA would also want road tax abolished for motorists paying road-charging fees.
The Eddington report suggests ruling out the need for investment in major transport schemes such a North-South high-speed rail link, encouraging instead greater investment in smaller projects and existing networks for a cost-effective outcome.
‘Councils will welcome anything which focuses on local schemes such as bypasses to deal with bottleneck problems,’ said Cllr Sparks. ‘Road charging is now inevitable, but we can’t expect it to be successful if we don’t have good public transport in place. There needs to a major investment.’
The Tories have also backed road charging in their report Getting around, stating it will play an ‘increased role in the strategy of any future government’.
Councils in the West Midlands, including Birmingham and Coventry city councils and Solihull MBC, who have produced a transport Green Paper for the region, welcomed the report. A spokesman for West Midlands local authorities said: ‘The report is continuing the road charging debate and keeping it in the public eye. It recognises that doing nothing is not an option.’
