Road toll tax would hurt city

Aug 17 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

THE revelation that congestion charging in the Merseyside region is "probably inevitable" will not come as music to the ears of motorists.

Congestion has only become a relatively recent phenomenon in Merseyside, mostly as a result of the seemingly never-ending programme of roadworks in the city centre.

However, the Government is offering a strong inducement to local authorities to introduce such a charge – which is sure to be deeply unpopular – by dangling before them the prospect of special funding if they do levy the extra tax.

Merseyside’s boroughs have commissioned a study into how traffic levels will change over the next decade ahead of their bid for the Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) cash.

Figures suggest rocketing levels of car usage will leave Merseyside gridlocked by 2021. Congestion is expected to in- crease by 26% over that time, with the number of cars on the roads up by 40%. In total, 20,000 people will live in Liver- pool city centre by the mid-2010s, with 2m square feet of office space created.

But the acceptance of officers, who made their comments in a report being sent to government about where Merseyside stands on congestion charging, that road-pricing is probably inevitable in the region, has prompted a fierce response from one of the region’s biggest developers.

Peel Holdings – which operates Liver- pool John Lennon Airport and plans to spend billions creating skyscraper devel- opments on the Wirral and Liverpool banks of the Mersey – has urged the local authority not to follow Greater Manches- ter down the road user charging route.

They claim the introduction of compul- sory congestion charging in Liverpool would damage the economic success of the city, with jobs and investment travelling to other destinations in the NW where there is no road toll tax.

And, indeed, anything that might adversely affect the region’s economic revival and deter people from visiting, say, Grosvenor’s huge Paradise Street retail complex must be discouraged.

If there was a sound economic case for introducing congestion charging, then it might be supported. However, it needs to have a stronger rationale than offers of government cash for those authorities which bring it in.