Ministers set out road toll proposals

The government has published proposals to give councils more control over transport, including the power to introduce road-pricing schemes.

The use of road tolls, included in the Draft Road Transport Bill to be presented to the Commons on Tuesday, has proved highly controversial.

Nearly two million people signed an online petition calling on the prime minister to scrap plans for such schemes.

Transport secretary Douglas Alexander also announced a £2.2m fund to help the 10 largest urban areas beat congestion, which he said would be worth a total of £60m over four years.

Tuesday's bill also focused on the regulation of bus services, allowing local authorities to set fares and exercise control over timetables.

Councils would be able to call on private bus companies to run certain routes and would be required to provide bus lanes for these services.

"Improving public transport is vital if we are going to tackle congestion and climate change," Alexander said.

"Two-thirds of public transport journeys are made by bus, so it is only right that this Bill focuses on how we improve bus services.

"The measures we have published today will give local authorities the powers they need to ensure that local bus services meet local needs as part of a broader package which will give them the flexibility they need to tackle congestion."

However, the Conservatives claimed the Bill was a precursor to widespread road-tolls, with shadow transport secretary Chris Grayling describing it as "a Trojan horse for national road pricing".

"It's now clear that Gordon Brown is as committed to the government's road pricing plans as Tony Blair has been, despite the petition signed by 1.8million people and official forecasts that such as scheme could cost up to £60bn," he said.

"To make matters worse, they are blackmailing local authorities into being guinea pigs for road pricing so they don't have to take the flack themselves.

"Local road pricing schemes are fine but only if they are originated locally and agreed locally. It is just plain wrong for ministers to interfere in the way they are doing."

Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Alistair Carmichael called on the government to "be open and honest with people about its intentions to push forward with road pricing".

"They must commit to a system which does not mean motorists as a whole paying more, but just paying differently," he said.

And the Commons transport committee has announced an inquiry into the legislation.

The committee's Labour chairman Gwyneth Dunwoody welcomed the Bill, but stressed the need for "pre-legislative scrutiny".

Reaction

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said there should be a referendum in areas where road-tolls were planned.

"Without it road charging is completely illegitimate, as it would be for a national scheme without a public vote on the issue," said Steve Collie, FSB transport chairman.

"Instead of creating more tolls and more laws the government should be enforcing current rules and spending more on the transport network," he added.

The Local Government Association (LGA) welcomed moves to give councils more power, but warned that local road-pricing schemes alone would not solve the congestion problem.

"Congestion is a national problem, but the solutions must be found locally," said David Sparks, the chairman of the LGA's transport board.

"Local road-pricing schemes are not an end in themselves," he added.

Meanwhile, environmental group Transport 2000 claimed the proposals did not go far enough.