It's "use it or lose it" for congestion charging cash in UK cities

Date: 17/04/2009

A new report from the Centre for Cities is calling for the Government to abandon its local road pricing push for now, if no cities opt for congestion charging this year.  Instead, the £1bn remaining funding should be safeguarded for other, more badly needed public transport projects - like new commuter rail links, better city buses and tram extensions.

Public transport in big cities has long been a low priority on the Government's to-do list:

• In the recent fiscal stimulus 18 times more was spent on the VAT cut, than on bringing forward transport investment projects, which create jobs, boost the UK's economic competitiveness and cut congestion.

• Over 70% of commuters in England's six largest urban areas outside London still travel to work by car.

Recession bail outs, falling tax receipts and budget deficits mean that, after the next general election, cities cannot rely so heavily on central grants to improve their transport networks.  This report recommends:

• By the end of 2009, transport ministers should liberate the £1bn funding earmarked for congestion charging and seek cross party consensus to safeguard the money for city transport improvements.

• After the general election, the next Government should create a £4bn Urban Transport Investment Fund, using the congestion charging pot as a starting point.

Dermot Finch, Director of the Centre for Cities, said: 

"Cities like Manchester and Edinburgh have found congestion charging a tough sell.  Other cities considering a charge - like Cambridge, Reading and Bristol - are undecided.  If there are no takers by the end of the year, the Government should call it a day on its current road user charging push.

"A tough post-recession fiscal climate means central government transport grants are likely to dwindle post 2011.  The next Government should use the congestion charging pot to start up a new fund for transport projects, together with councils and the private sector.  This fund would keep UK cities' moving and help shift the national economy towards recovery."

For more information, please contact:

Rosamund Taylor, Acting External Affairs Manager, Centre for Cities
r.taylor@centreforcities.org / 020 7803 4316 / 07876 175 426

Notes to Editors

Keeping the wheels from falling off: Why England needs a new Urban Transport Investment Fund by Adam Marshall is available to download at www.centreforcities.org/ps2

Keeping the wheels from falling off is the second in a Centre for Cities' series of short policy solutions papers with bold and practical policy ideas on the key issues affecting cities today.

In response to the report findings, Stephen Hughes, the Chief Executive of Birmingham City Council, said,

"I welcome this paper from the Centre for Cities as a thoughtful contribution to the wider debate about how to fund transport infrastructure projects in metropolitan areas. The City Region of Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country has its own proposal for a transport based Accelerated Development Zone, and a Fund such as that proposed by the Centre for Cities could be one way of providing the up front finance that would be required."

Centre for Cities supported Manchester's congestion charging bid because of its potential economic benefits for the city region.  Centre for Cities recently recommended that Cambridge take a now-or-never decision on the Transport Innovation Fund, which allocates funding for congestion charging schemes (www.centreforcities.org/cambridge).  But the introduction of congestion charging schemes in the current economic climate are unlikely and it is critical that the funding is safeguarded for investment in urban transport.