COUNCIL leaders voted today to bring congestion charging to Greater Manchester - and the M.E.N. can reveal there are major changes to the original plans.

Anti-charging protesters greeted the bosses of the 10 district councils as they arrived in Dukinfield, Tameside.

And Manchester council leader Sir Richard Leese, who was chairing the meeting, was booed by the small crowd as he stepped off a bus outside the front door.

But the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) took only 45 minutes to give congestion charging the go-ahead by eight votes to two, with Stockport and Trafford the only opponents.

Officials will now work round the clock over the weekend to compile a bid to the government for £3bn of public transport improvements.

The bid must be in by Tuesday and the improvements must be in place before road pricing is introduced in about five years.

But after six weeks of consultation the plans are very different to those unveiled by the M.E.N. in February. Today we can reveal:

AN independent regulator may be appointed to protect against any future moves by politicians to alter the scheme or put up prices.

THE heritage East Lancashire Railway could be recruited to help ease congestion between Ramsbottom and Bury and linked to the main line via Heywood and Castleton.

THE proposed evening peak charging hours of 4pm to 6.30pm could be altered because they do not reflect the true journey patterns of commuters and shoppers.

THE planned number of yellow school buses could be doubled from 175 to 350.

THE number of park and ride spaces could be trebled from 3,500 to 10,500.

The bid is for a £1.2bn grant from the Transport Innovation Fund, plus permission from the government to borrow £1.8bn to complete the extension of Metrolink and provide hundreds more buses and trains.

A report being considered by the leaders says more trains are needed for the line from Blackburn to Bolton and Salford, with better parking at Bromley Cross station.

An extra £38m could be sought to improve access to Stockport town centre and improve bus routes around Chester Road at Stretford.

Officials would begin discussions with each district in September about the detailed line of the inner charging ring. But the report says the outer ring, which follows the M60, should not be changed.

Although the plans have yet to win approval from the Department for Transport, Stockport and Trafford's opposition is unlikely to matter as the government's new Transport Bill will make it possible to insist they toe the line.

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