Northants Tories Propose Road Charging

12.01.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 5th Sep 2006

As part of the Local Transport Plan the Conservative run Northamptonshire County Council has on two occasions put in a bid to Government for funding to investigate a road user charging scheme.

The scheme involved working with the neighbouring councils of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes and Luton as part of the Milton Keynes and South Midlands Growth Area. Liberal Democrat Leader on the County Council, Councillor Richard Church said: "I am amazed at the arrogance of the Conservatives in pursuing a road pricing scheme for Northamptonshire with only limited consultation through the Local Transport Plan process rather than a full scale consultation with the people of Northamptonshire."

However for the second year running the Liberal Democrat leadership of Milton Keynes Council has turned down Northants Tory Leader's plea to join their bid to Government for a road user charging scheme, as has Lib Dem controlled Luton Council. The Tory Councils submitting a bid to Government are Beds, Bucks and Northants

Commenting on a letter from Northants Tory Leader, Cllr. Jim Harker, blaming Milton Keynes Council's failure to support last year's bid as a major reason for its failure, Milton Keynes Lib Dem Council Leader, Cllr Isobel McCall, said;

"We simply do not have the level of congestion in Milton Keynes that warrants charging motorists for driving on the city's roads. Although traffic jams are starting to develop on some routes in rush hours, most of the day it runs freely. The Lib Dem Council has started work on improving the capacity of key junctions and roundabouts where traffic is building up in rush hours to prevent the problems experienced in other cities. Prevention is far better than a financial cure".