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Manchester 'should promote itself as a green city'

22/04/2008

A leading businessman has said that Manchester should market itself as Britain's "low carbon capital" in order to attract more investment.

Phil Jones, who sits on the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce's board, believes that congestion charging is not the way to secure the economic prosperity of the city-region, despite council leader Sir Richard Leese's insistence that failure to deal with traffic will damage the local economy and the job market.

Mr Jones, who is also a member of the Institute of Directors, thinks that instead of introducing a road toll the city needs to market itself as a place where eco-friendly businesses should set up their headquarters.

"I think the city council has been doing a pretty good job of at least engaging with the business community but I haven't seen anybody raise the debate in terms of the long-term vision," he said.

A number of businesses in the city, including Peel Holdings and Kellogg's, have welcomed the idea of a 'green city'.

A spokesman for the Greater Manchester Momentum Group said more needs to be done to find alternatives to congestion charging "as a way to secure the future prosperity of Greater Manchester".

Last year, it was reported that Manchester transport chiefs had been looking to northern Europe for transport improvement ideas.

Stockholm, for instance, carried out major public transport improvements before levying a £4.50 charge for vehicles to drive in and out of the city during business hours.