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 £3billion 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.”
Graham Stringer, MP for Blackley in Manchester, a long-time opponent of the scheme, said: “It's a brave politician that goes forward with such a scheme, unless it is an extraordinarily good scheme that virtually everybody benefits from.
“It does show there is a hostility to road charging.
“You have to come up with an extremely good scheme whereby you reduce other road taxes if you ever want road pricing by consent in this country.
“I am delighted with the result.
“It is a pity we have had to waste three years on this ill-thought out scheme which the public have seen through.
“We must now go back to government to talk about how they can invest in trams, trains and buses in Greater 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.
Ali Abbas, from Manchester Friends of the Earth group, said that many of the proposed benefits to public transport had been overlooked by voters concerned about the impact of the road charge.
He said: “I'm disappointed at a missed opportunity. It was a great chance for us to make a huge improvement to our transport and to help tackle greenhouse emissions. I think it will be much more difficult for us to improve the way that people get to work and travel around Greater Manchester. When we asked people why they wouldn't vote for it they told us 'we wont vote for it because the transport is so bad'. But our argument was 'if you vote for it, the transport will get better'.”
Roger Jones, the former transport boss who was deposed from his council seat in Salford by campaigners opposed to the charge, said that no other avenues for funding would be available for proposed transport schemes in the region.
“This was our only chance. Anything else we get from the Government will be piecemeal. Ninety-two per cent of the TIF money was ours. It wasn't going to go anywhere else.
“Even if the Government removes the requirement for there to be a charge in order to access the money, it will be a free-for-all. Manchester will not pick up the lion's share.”
Firms split over c-charge vote
C-charge: Reaction on the streets
C-charge verdict: Manchester
C-charge verdict: Trafford
C-charge verdict: Wigan
C-charge verdict: Stockport
C-charge verdict: Tameside
C-charge verdict: Oldham
C-charge verdict: Rochdale
C-charge verdict: Bolton
C-charge verdict: Bury
C-charge verdict: Salford
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"Geoff Hoon, the transport secretary, has warned the region there is no 'plan B' for improving its public transport"
So the government are trying to bribe us in to handing over more tax..
Yay.. Bring on the car.
I'm delighted, why should we have to pay to go to work, now that's left the Council to foot the bill for all the work that's gone into it.
This was better than the 7 rejected areas that I predicted so I've just one thing to say.... YEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!
At least it was a clear vote without doubt. Congrats to the no campaign, a shame as far as I'm concerned as it looks like I'll be waiting quite a while to get my tram to Eastlands. Hey ho.
Not a suprising result, the YES camp tried to push through the vote without any meat on the proposals.
So how do we get a world class transport system? Start by regulating all pubic transport within the M60. Set up large park-and-ride facilities at the four cardinal points and express transport services into the centre from there. Other bus services making up a web of routes between.
Cost to Manchester as much or as little as we can afford
Common sense prevails, the charge was to be yet another tax on the people of manchester. lets see what other greatidea the council can think of to bleed us dry.
With the benefit of hindsight perhaps those responsible will concede that all the money wasted on the C-Charge would have been better spent on improving public transport without the need to impose extra taxes on others ??
There was the sheriff of Nottingham, then there is the sheriff of londingham who tried robin the hood by encircling the camp with two charged rings, nothing in or out unless you pay.
London population 11 million. Greater Manchester 2 million.
Well, if congestion is what the majority want, those of us who voted Yes should probably follow the majority and leave our bikes at home, stop riding buses and get into our cars to commute. Also, the universities should put more pressure on the council to close Oxford Road for through traffic. If they want congestion and don't want new trams and cycle routes, they should get congestion.
A 10 - 0 thrashing! The people of Greater Manchester have made their point quite clearly in this referendum. It's up to the council leaders in Greater Manchester that wanted a yes to start working WITH and FOR the people, otherwise democracy will vote in the people that will work with and for us.
Geoff Hoon, the transport secretary, has warned the region there is no 'plan B' for improving its public transport.
Surely that's Stagecoach et al's responsibility anyway, Congestion charge or not?
Now that good people of Greater Manchester have spoken I hope that the councils now call for a real consultation and put forward a proposal for a congestion reduction plan that actually makes sence. I strongly believe that the majority of people would have voted Yes if we had a well thought through strategy.
Munkey Boy, I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but you will be able to get a tram to Eastlands....maybe not from Ashton just yet, but certainly from Droylsden.
To the rest of the Yes campaign - Ya Boo Sucks !
CT Manchester - I drive down Oxford Road most mornings - what congestion ?
Lord Smith has got it wrong. We were not voting no to improvements across the public transport system, we voted no to the way in which those improvements were to be funded.
Ted Striker: "Surely that's Stagecoach et al's responsibility anyway, Congestion charge or not?"
Sure for the bits that make money, what about the bits that don't? Much public transport is subsidised.
How much money has been wasted in trying to implement this charge ? Perhaps the MEN can find out and report it
Now - let's have AGMA GMPTE etc listen to intelligent argument for real transport improvements.
Messrs Colledge, Whitmore, Leese, Bernstein etc, need to shut their mouths, apart from an apology for wasting so much time and effort on a wasted policy, and open their ears to proposals for a real scheme.
I emailed a paper to the PTE at the consultation stage - it got no response.
Come on guys - let's have a real debate this time.
The short-sightedness and selfishness of people is incredibly depressing. This was an incredible opportunity to get some major investment and we've thrown the baby out with the bathwater.
Greater Manchester has voted to remain in the dark ages then!
Since de-regulation there is no such thing as Public Transport. Its a farce & Leese should resign.
TEN-NIL! We've won, and by a huge margin in all Council areas! It just shows that the public can smell BS a mile away! But now watch the councils flood our streets with bus lanes and 'buid-outs' just for spite...
Even in defeat Richard Leese can not stop himself from lying. I guess he has got used to it, what was it hitler said about making the lie big and repeat it often.
Richard it never was £3bn invested in public transport, even the PCC agreed with that, so stop lying. That is why you lost, you kept lying and scheming and cheating. Please leave you office now. We do not want such a character in charge of this great city.
Mr and Mrs Chewbacca must be gutted.
This is truly an excellent result for Greater Manchester. Congratulations to all those sensible enough to have seen through the propaganda & misinformation & have voted NO.
Be on your guard though, barring a change of government or a big change in policy the grand plan for national road pricing will be brought out again in yet another disguise sooner or later.
We pay enough to use the roads already. Let others pay their way too.
And to all the pro-toll trolls….commiserations & better luck next time (NOT)!
http://www.notolls.org.uk/pdfs/nopr12dec2008.pdf
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
The result is SO funny.
I love it.