Manchester's C-Charge..It's a NO !!!
THE PEOPLE have spoken – and Greater Manchester will NOT be getting a congestion charge.
Voters have overwhelmingly rejected the scheme by a majority of almost four to one in a region-wide referendum.
The 'No' vote won a clear majority in all ten local authority areas and delivered a crushing blow to the plan to invest billions of pounds in the region's public transport infrastructure.
The decision sparked jubilation among 'no' campaigners, who had claimed the peak-hour, weekday only charge would have cost commuters up to £1,200 a year.
Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council and one of the architects of the congestion charge proposals, said: “We have a very clear result and I’ve already said what the people of Manchester say is what I will be taking forward.
"This was the only opportunity to get £3million of investment in public transport over the next five years and 10,000 jobs to go with it. So far nobody has been able to put forward a credible alternative to get those levels of investment.”
Asked if he was personally damaged by the result Sir Richard said “The time for me to hang up my hat is when we stop having these sorts of proposal to put to the people of Manchester.”
Lord Peter Smith, chairman of Association of Greater Manchester Authorities said the results were “very clear”. He added:
“This is not just a vote no for congestion charging, it’s a vote no to improvements on the trams railways and buses and there will now be no improvements."
Official turnout figures showed 53.2 per cent of voters returned their ballot forms. The lowest turnout was in Wigan where 45.3 per cent of voters returned their ballot papers. The highest participation in the referendum was in Trafford, where the figure was 63.6 per cent.
A total of just over a million votes were cast and of those 812,815 - a massive 78.8 per cent - put their cross in the 'No' box. Only 218,860 people, 21.2 per cent of those who voted, said they were in favour of the scheme.
Greater Manchester's 10 councils have been bidding for more than £2.75bn from the government's Transport Innovation Fund, including £318m to set up a charging scheme. Some £1.2bn would have been in the form of a loan, paid back over 30 years out of profits from the charge.
People in seven out of the 10 borough of Greater Manchester would have had to have said said 'yes' for the package to go ahead.
The money – which would have paid for massive investment in trams, trains and buses – will now be taken off the table. Some £1.5bn of grant will be returned to a central government 'pot' for cities that are prepared to bring in congestion-charge schemes. The loan will be cancelled.
Geoff Hoon, the transport secretary, has warned the region there is no 'plan B' for improving its public transport.
The results of the all-postal vote were revealed in a highly-charged declaration at Manchester Central this afternoon.
The decision is expected to be rubber-stamped at a meeting of council leaders next Friday.
Source: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co....ccharge_its_no
Get it there....I'm extremely happy about this.
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Re: Manchester's C-Charge..It's a NO !!!
Originally Posted by FireBlade
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