OFFICIALS are working round the clock to meet a deadline of next Tuesday to offer to introduce congestion charging to Greater Manchester's roads in return for £3bn of public transport improvements.

They need to complete bid documents for £1.2bn from the government's Transport Innovation Fund in return for accepting congestion charging - after a vote of eight to two by the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities yesterday.

Anti-congestion charge campaigners gathered outside a packed Dukinfield town hall where the vote took place.

The extra investment - another £2bn would be borrowed against the proceeds of charging drivers up to £5 a day to travel in and out - would lead to a public transport revolution including an expanded Metrolink network, longer trains and high quality bus services.

Park and Ride and Yellow School Buses would also be included in the biggest and most far-reaching transport investment programme outside London.

Only Trafford and Stockport voted against letting the bid go ahead after Sir Richard Leese, Manchester City Council leader who chaired the meeting, had warned: "If we do not make this bid, we have no prospect of serious investment in public transport for the next decade."

Four tests

The AGMA leaders heard that the independent panel of local business representatives and economists, who have been scrutinising the bid development process since October 2006, have been satisfied that the four tests set by AGMA for a suitable TIF bid had been met sufficiently to allow the bid to be submitted.

They concluded that 80 per cent of promised public transport improvements would be in place before charging is introduced - probably in 2012 - with the other 20 per cent following over the next two years.

Sir Richard said afterwards: "The current debate about the future of transport in Greater Manchester is rightly intense. No-one has suggested however that do-nothing is an option. The overwhelming majority of businesses and the general public see rising congestion as one of the biggest threats to our future prosperity.

"If we don't tackle effectively rising congestion our growth path will be affected: business costs will continue to rise, labour markets will shrink and some 30,000 jobs will be lost to the area.

"We are all agreed that investment must come first, before any congestion charging, which in any event would only apply in the working week at peak periods. This is the key to giving choices so that the travelling public can enjoy realistic alternatives of reliable, high quality public transport including the renewal and expansion of Metrolink."

Work on detailing the inner boundary will begin next month and the Department for Transport will announce its decision in December.

But even if Greater Manchester beats its rivals to the fund, there will be several years of work before a final decision is made.

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