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City leader's 'disaster' alert on road pricing
William Green Political Correspondent CONGESTION charging will be disastrous for Yorkshire unless the Government pays for alternatives to driving to work, a council leader warned yesterday.
Leeds Council leader Mark Harris said people would be forced to move to areas with better public transport or the region burdened with another tax – unless Ministers acted; he pointed to a lack of funding for a planned high-quality bus network in the city.
He also hit back at Transport Minister Stephen Ladyman who this week criticised local politicians over the doomed Leeds Supertram and a failed bid for cash to look at ways of solving congestion.
The Supertram was axed by the Department for Transport (DfT) over value-for-money fears last year and Dr Ladyman suggested politicians in Leeds stopped being realistic.
Dr Ladyman indicated it would be difficult for councils to access cash from the Government's Transport Innovation Fund, which will provide huge sums, unless they consider road pricing.
He said areas must be "open-minded" – unlike a group of Yorkshire councils centred on Leeds whose bid for research cash was rejected.
But Mr Harris claimed Supertram was good value compared to Nottingham's light rail system while consideration of road charging was not an absolute condition of successful bids for research money.
He said ex-Transport Secretary Alistair Darling had said the Government would not force road charging on cities and they would not be punished if they rejected the measure.
Mr Harris criticised the lack of Whitehall cash for a rapid bus network developed to replace Supertram and warned congestion charging would "spell economic disaster" for the region without such alternatives for motorists.
"How can you begin to plan a bid if you have no idea or some indication of budget? It is an impossible and intolerable situation because they are forever moving the goalposts," said the Liberal Democrat council leader.
Dr Ladyman's comments sparked concern at Metro, which co-ordinates public transport in West Yorkshire.
Director General Kieran Preston said: "Leeds Supertram offered a cost-benefit ratio of over two to one, which under the Department for Transport's own guidelines means it should have gone ahead."
He claimed a report by the National Audit Office, Whitehall's spending watchdog, into the affair would show civil servants found the project was good value.
The Supertram was better value and would cost less to build than an extension to Nottingham's system approved by the DfT, added Mr Preston.
"Of course we wish Nottingham every success with their scheme but we also wonder why the Department for Transport did not apply the same criteria to Leeds," said the transport chief.
A DfT spokeswoman said the extension to Nottingham's tram was approved subject to costs being controlled while Leeds was aware that a bus scheme was expected to be funded from 2008 as long as satisfactory proposals were submitted.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
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