16 January 2008

A CAMPAIGNER has raised concerns over whether a near £700,000 investment into improving public transport in Bristol is being put to its best possible use.

This week, council bosses in Somerset were handed £675,000 in Government funding to press on with their plans to introduce controversial congestion charges on the county's roads.

The West of England Partnership, which covers Bristol City Council as well as Bath & North East Somerset Council, North Somerset Council and South Gloucestershire Councils, was told it would be given the funds on Monday.

In response Charlotte Leslie, the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Bristol North West, welcomed the funding announcement.

However, she questioned how the money would be spent, with it most likely being used to pay consultants who will put forward plans for a congestion charge for the city, which will also include plans for better public transport.

Charlotte, who has been campaigning for a referendum of Bristol people on the congestion charge before it is introduced, said: “January 2008 was to be the month that the tram-system was opened in Bristol, but the Bristol area lost out on this opportunity because of internal political bickering.

Instead, public transport has not improved, congestion has got worse, and we are still looking for ways to solve the problem.

“So I am delighted that this time the Bristol area has spoken with one voice to improve public transport.

“However, it seems strange that all this money is to be spent on plans for a congestion charge that people in the city have not had a chance to vote on.

“If these expensive plans do get approval, the congestion charge will be a certainty. What will not be a certainty is that public transport will actually improve as a result of the other measures in the plans.

I want a guarantee that people in Bristol will not be subjected to a congestion charge until we see real improvements in public transport.

“Planning is essential, but it would be a tragedy if all this money was spent on management consultants' salaries instead of public transport improvements now."

Minister for Transport Rosie Winterton on Monday announced the funding so that planning to introduce road pricing can continue - but stressed it was no guarantee that cash for the final plan would be awarded.

Any areas that want to introduce congestion charges, which are already in place in London, will have to bid for the Government's Transport Innovation Fund at a later date.

Bristol is one of a number of cities that have been earmarked nationwide as possible locations for congestion charges to be introduced, initially on a trial basis.

The proposals, similar to the controversial scheme already in place across central London, would see motorists charged up to £1.34 a mile to use inner city roads.

In response, Charlotte established an online petition calling for a referendum on congestion charging in the city before the scheme is given final approval in the Council House, as well as taking her petition to the streets.

It called for a full and frank discussion by the people of Bristol over whether the plans would help ease traffic congestion, or if any such schemes would prove ineffectual without the introduction of better public transport links within the city.