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Manchester congestion charge details released

25/05/2007

The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (Agma) has released long-anticipated proposals that call for motorists to pay for the use of the city-region's busiest roads.

Under the plans, drivers will pay £2 to enter the outer ring (the M60) of the city and £1 to access the city centre.

A further £1 would be charged to leave each of the zones, although drivers who use the roads outside peak times will not have to pay anything.

Drivers will have to pay a deposit for an in-car electric tag that will monitor their movements on 15 of the busiest transport corridors.

The scheme, which needs government approval, could be in force by 2012. Agma hopes to finance the £3 billion scheme under the auspices of the Transport Innovation Fund, most of which will be repaid through congestion charges.

Lord Peter Smith, leader of Agma, said: "If we fail to address road congestion, Greater Manchester could miss out on 30,000 jobs over the next 15 years.

"We need to grow faster if we want to narrow the gap with London and avoid the problems that other major cities in the world have suffered because they failed to tackle the problem."

A public consultation will be carried out on the proposals, which are part of a wider initiative to transform the conurbation's transport infrastructure.



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