7 March 2007
CSS, the organisation whose members are responsible for three quarters of the UK road network, has come out in favour of road pricing as the best way to beat congestion and encourage people to switch to public transport.
CSS represents the strategic directors in local government who deal with transport issues. Its Transport and Environment Committee chairman, Graham Dunhill, says: “This will be a tough one for the Government because it will be very unpopular, and it will need a strong nerve to administer medicine of this type. But without it, we face a gridlocked future. We therefore believe the Government must back the approach favoured by Sir Rod Eddington in his recent report.
“We would hope that the level of opposition can be lessened if people understand that money collected from road tolls will be invested directly in improvements in public transport and park-and-ride schemes.”
Mr Dunhill said that how the charges would be applied - either by specific route or through a zonal system - was open to debate. The option of charging throughout the road network would not be welcome in rural areas given the need for car use where public transport is limited or non-existent.
“The overriding objective has to be to alleviate the crippling congestion which is bringing so many of our towns and cities to a halt and causing misery to millions of people as well as to the business life of the nation,” he said. “There is no way round the need to get people out of cars and onto public transport in peak hours or to persuade them to choose a better time to travel.”
ends
Media contacts
Graham Dunhill, Chairman CSS Transport & Environment Committee office 01432 260047; gdunhill@herefordshire.gov.uk
Barrie Hedges, Daybreak Communications office 0845 644 3845; mobile 07899 923756; barrie.hedges@daybreakcomm.co.uk
Note to editors
CSS represents the Directors of Strategic Planning, Transportation, Environment, Waste Management and Economic Development throughout the UK. Its members' responsibilities cover more than half the population, 75% of the highways and 90% of the land area of the country.
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Membership