A BID to scupper Greater Manchester's congestion charge plans was foiled when the man behind it was ejected from a council chamber.
Wigan's opposition leader Peter Franzen was ordered out before he had chance to call for the plans to be scrapped.
Had he succeeded, Wigan would have become the fourth of Greater Manchester's 10 councils to say no to road pricing, threatening the future of the bid for £3bn of public transport improvements.
In a stormy meeting at Wigan town hall, Community Action Party leader Coun Franzen was ejected after repeatedly clashing with mayor John O'Neil.
Because he was not there to propose his opposing motion, it was ruled that it could not go ahead. But Coun Franzen said he would now try to call an extraordinary general meeting of Wigan council to put the motion again.
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"This is too important to let go," he said. "It's something for all of Greater Manchester, not just Wigan."
He said he will report the mayor to the Standards Board for England - the body which oversees the behaviour of local councils - for excluding him without taking a vote.
The latest row began when councillors discovered he was taping the meeting and voted for his tape to be destroyed.
After repeatedly interrupting the mayor, a vote was taken that he should no longer be allowed to speak - and he was sent out.
Stockport, Trafford and Bury have already voted to oppose congestion charging and if one more council objects, there will no longer be the required two-thirds majority among the ten authorities.
The Community Action Party won its first seats five years ago and by 2004 had 18 councillors, to become the official opposition.
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Roads row councillor voted out
January 11, 2008
EXCLUDED: Peter Franzen
Showing comments 1 to 16 and replies | View All
PW, Manchester (11/01/2008 at 07:31)
polkyb (11/01/2008 at 08:27)
Look at the house of commons, for example. I've never heard of the Tory OR Lib Dem leader being ejected for a bit of "interuption".
Nice try Peter, but, maybe next time you should just drop a bomb shell and not give them time to prepare.
shayla (11/01/2008 at 08:29)
Still, we can vote them out and put our own mayor in.
In the know (11/01/2008 at 10:04)
Snare Drum (Manchester Against Road Tolls), Ashton-under-Lyne (11/01/2008 at 10:35)
Laura Norder, Didsbury (11/01/2008 at 11:00)
The councillor knew the rules but decided he was too important to stick to them - now he's claiming the majority have prepetrated injustice and undemocratic actions.
Like you lot, maybe Mr Franzen should get another hobby... Labour-bashing is so last year.
Craig (11/01/2008 at 11:17)
paul teeque (11/01/2008 at 11:18)
Peter Franzen for PM!
Kurt Stevens, Sale (11/01/2008 at 11:37)
dennis fallon (11/01/2008 at 11:56)
Munkey Boy, Audenshaw, Manchester (11/01/2008 at 13:49)
alvinlwh (11/01/2008 at 14:31)
Blue Ape With A Drum (11/01/2008 at 15:39)
Fran M, Stockport (11/01/2008 at 16:37)
si-co, leigh (11/01/2008 at 21:10)
If I was to rely on the useless public transport system to get to work I would normally get to work around 4 hours late as there is no rail, tram or adequate bus links from Leigh.
Unfortunately most of the local councils seem to care more about getting people into their little towns to get more revenue from parking (or parking fines) for themselves than letting people decide themselves unless they want to pay a premium.
I am guessing that as soon as the money does arrive for the "public transport" there will be a lot of expensive meetings, consultations and worldwide visits for the councillors to make out of the funding in order to satify themselves that they are doing the right thing, then after that they will make more excuses for the appauling transport systems and why they can't do anything about them.
Peter Franzen, Wigan (11/01/2008 at 22:57)
You have alleged that “There are many unrepresentative voices on these pages who seem to have been hired by the petro-chemical industry.”
What is the evidence to back up your claims?
According to my understanding the unrepresentative voices that have recently been hired by the petrochemical industry are MP Ian McCartney who is widely reported in the media as being paid £115,000 per annum as a “consultant” to oil and gas giant Fluor and former Prime Minister Tony Blair who is reported to being paid £500,000 per annum as a part-time senior adviser by the US investment bank JP Morgan.