THE referendum which ended plans for congestion charging in Greater Manchester cost £2.2m.
Each of the 10 local authorities has been billed directly by Electoral Reform Services to meet the cost of producing, distributing and counting postal votes, including postage. The figure includes £25,600 paid to returning officer Sir Neil McIntosh and more than £50,000 spent on his staff.
The bill will be divided between the 10 councils according to the size of their population.
Manchester, with the biggest population (340,000), will pay £365,039.28, while Bury (140,000) will pay £168,850.72.
The costs are part of the overall £24.1m bill to be shared by the 10 authorities for the aborted Transport Innovation Fund bid, which was overwhelmingly rejected in the vote.
The total has been finalised in a report to the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities. The report shows that a large part of the £24.1m cost went on justifying plans to civil servants at the Department of Transport.
Dozens of town hall officials and consultants halted their work on the TIF bid on December 19, a week after the referendum result, when the AGMA leaders formally agreed to abandon the process.
After the result, Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon made it clear that without congestion charging, there would be no TIF money for Greater Manchester.
As revealed last week in the M.E.N, the government will be asked to consider new transport proposals for the region to salvage cash from the failed congestion charge plans.
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£2.2m cost of C-charge poll
January 26, 2009
Showing comments 1 to 25 and replies | View All
bubbob, manchester (26/01/2009 at 06:17)
BAM (26/01/2009 at 08:07)
Lawrence Glendinning (26/01/2009 at 08:16)
m_dm, Miles Platting (26/01/2009 at 08:28)
An utter farce, from start to finish (I hope!)
johnnyboy, Ashton-u-Lyne, Lancashire (26/01/2009 at 08:46)
Cllr Ken Hulme, Delph (26/01/2009 at 09:06)
Thank goodness we did have a referendum, despite the cost. Perhaps the result will send a strong message to many of our council leaders that they have to listen to the voters and no just preach down to them fro on high.
But I doubt it - I suspect the lesson they will learn is to give the public even less of a say than they have already.
Remember when local government used to mean something like local democracy - shame those days are gone.
Mr Paul Teeque - DEMOCRACY IS ALIVE IN MANCHESTER! WE WON!, Proud of his fellow mancs!!! (26/01/2009 at 09:21)
Imagine what it would have cost if it came in,the crumbling of manchester!
Jay B, oldham (26/01/2009 at 09:24)
when a employee wastes or looses money they are punished or sacked.
so the same should apply to these and more people who where responsible for it!
Penfold,stuck in a postbox in Blackley (26/01/2009 at 09:42)
Munkey Boy, Audenshaw (26/01/2009 at 10:30)
At last we agree on something, it should never have gone to referendum. Only in the next 10-20 years will Manchester realise it's folly, but I'm not surprised people are so cynical about intentions at the moment.
Audenshaw Bob (26/01/2009 at 10:37)
What annoys me is the money that they waste in general. Money isn't easy to come by these days so they should not be wasting it.
Last summer I realised that I was overpaying on my council tax and the council agreed they owed me £400. How long did the refubd take? FIVE months. I chased evry week and all I got was 'cheque has been requeste, not sure why you haven't got it etc'.
As I was ahead I was able to skip a few moths as I only took part of the money owed. So bear in mind the took five months to pay me MY money, they had a further three months payment up front and yet when the paymenst started up again I mistakenly underpaid by £25. The councils response - told me I had to pay up the remainder of the year in one go or they send in the bailiffs.
I only wish I sent in bailiffs for my £400.
Disgusting.
Kiwi-blue, Christchurch,NZ (26/01/2009 at 10:54)
Mr Paul Teeque - DEMOCRACY IS ALIVE IN MANCHESTER! WE WON!, Proud of his fellow mancs!!! (26/01/2009 at 10:59)
Mike S, Manchester (26/01/2009 at 11:00)
Ace Shakespeare , manchester (26/01/2009 at 11:39)
George Holler, Manchester (26/01/2009 at 12:15)
Mark,Radcliffe. (26/01/2009 at 12:35)
Rt Hon Dr Rev MC Spanner MP QC FCA FRICS JP OK (26/01/2009 at 12:41)
I think should be shared around those boroughs that backed the plan. Those that said no should be exempt.
Black Flag (26/01/2009 at 13:17)
The people who were demanding a referendum were generally opposed to the TIF bid, so why not just charge the people who voted "no"? Or why not just charge the people who voted and exempt those who abstained?
Personally, I'd rather we didn't do any of those, because a free vote requires that you don't punish people for voting the "wrong" way.
Orb, Rochdale (26/01/2009 at 13:24)
A small price indeed to show true democracy in action.
paul1, manchester (26/01/2009 at 13:26)
The police YES
The Fire Service Yes
Council road sweapers well that is a joke and other council services we have thousands of people out of work and struggaling why not take a leaf out of America and FREEZE any pay rises and pump the money back into Manchester
Audenshaw Bob (26/01/2009 at 13:52)
This is how selfish I am. Last month I paid £1024.50 in tax, £325.54 in National Insurance and £140 in council tax. I pay VAT, pay Fuel tax etc etc. How does it make me selfish?
Selfish is when some freeloader wants me to pay a congestion charge so they can have extra buses. If you want a better service then pay more in fares. Selfish is expecting evryone but yousrelf to stick their hand in their pocket. All these 'I want cheaper fares', well someone has to pay for them i.e a driver not you. This used to be called begging. You might as well stand outside the bus station asking for 'spare change for the bus mate'.
How dare you call me selfish.
It's like me asking you for a tenner so I can go down the pub tonight, you say no and I call you selfish. I pay enough in taxes as it is thank you very much.
Grrrrrrr.
Jay B, oldham (26/01/2009 at 14:46)
the only selfish ones out there where the people who supported the con charge!
they expected everyone to pay for something only a few would use!
the results spoke for themselves! you lost! accept it!
all i ask is now we need those who wasted the money on the hairbrained scheme to be punished!
Mr Paul Teeque - DEMOCRACY IS ALIVE IN MANCHESTER! WE WON!, Proud of his fellow mancs!!! (26/01/2009 at 14:58)
Munkey Boy, Audenshaw (26/01/2009 at 15:46)
The fact we currently pay in time rather than cash is all a no vote entails, don't pretend it's going to magic the congestion away.