Manchester Congestion Charge - Not happening!

[Ceri JC]

Thank God.

For those of you who live elsewhere, this may not seem a big deal, but councils all over the country were looking to see if it went ahead and if it did, you can guarantee they'd ramp up their own money grabbing schemes.

[Baph]

Must admit I'm pleased about this.

I don't live remotely near a city (well, as I see a city), so it'd be a long time until congestion charging affected me.

I saw it though as starting with London, then Manchester, before you know it, Leeds, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Southampton etc. One day you wake up & some fscker installed GPS tracking in your car & you're charged for even cranking the engine!

[eviltwin]

Hmmm. It'll happen eventually across the UK, I guess - only local authorities won't make the mistake of holding a referendum next time. I mean, really, when are you going to get a majority of the public vote yes for this, regardless of whether it's for long term good or not?!

It happened without a vote in London, as it was in the mayoral manifesto so there was already a mandate to implement it. In cities where there is political will to implement, I suspect political parties will just include this in local election pledges from now on. Particularly, Labour groups, being as Labour promised an 'integrated transport plan' back in 97.

Oh and I expect Baph is right about GPS in vehicles - road charging is surely also going to happen eventually. I seem remember a news item recently about employees of certain companies trialling the technology.

Let's ride fast and free while we still can :twisted:

[Steve_God]

Hmmm. It'll happen eventually across the UK, I guess - only local authorities won't make the mistake of holding a referendum next time. I mean, really, when are you going to get a majority of the public vote yes for this, regardless of whether it's for long term good or not?!

Actually, in 'theory' it's possible that it could still go through, as the AGMA Council (made up of the Leaders of each of the Greater Manchester Councils) has still got to decide and has the final say... however they need 7 out of the 10 Councils to say yes for it to go through.
However those Councils that hadn't made a final decision were going to go with the outcome of the referendum, so it's VERY unlikely to happen :p

[600+]

Another money grabbing scheme. Government said it was gonna give us money 8years ago to extend the tram...now they wanted us to pay it out of our own pockets

F OFF as far as I'm concerned

[punyXpress]

Just 'cos the good burghers of Manchester have ( wisely ) black-balled this DOESN'T mean it wont happen.
This gov't will stop at nothing to get its way & we've seen nothing of dirty tricks yet!

[simesb]

I have come to believe that in Manchester people are not against the charge per se, but don't believe the council will deliver what they promised. I voted No because I certainly didn't.

The fallacy that road improvements without the charge needs to be stopped. The roads here are shocking at the best of times, and I fear the council will use this as an excuse to let them get even worse...

[Baph]

The fallacy that road improvements without the charge needs to be stopped. The roads here are shocking at the best of times, and I fear the council will use this as an excuse to let them get even worse...

Make sure you report any/all potholes etc, they then have a legal obligation to do something about it.

If they don't, they can be held liable (at least in part) for any/all accidents at that part of the road. You can also ask for a report as to exactly what they've done after you reported potholes. :)