Minister says road pricing a 'personal priority'

Douglas Alexander says road pricing is a personal priority

Wednesday, 10, May 2006 12:00

Douglas Alexander today signalled his intention to press ahead with road pricing, in his first keynote speech as transport secretary.

He said the issue of road charging, first raised by his predecessor, would be a "personal priority" and pledged to move the debate from a discussion about 'why', to one about 'how' it might work.

Up to £10 million is being made available to encourage the development of new technologies in the private sector, he said, building on the numerous motoring gadgets that are already on the market.

Meanwhile, local authorities would be able to bid for a further £10 million to work on pilot schemes, where Mr Alexander said they could test out the "real world practicalities" of a road pricing scheme.

However, he insisted that road charging was "only part of the overall transport solution", and had to be accompanied by similar investment in public transport.

Earlier, Mr Alexander launched the extension of the Oyster smartcard system in London to overland trains, which he said was a "major step forward in ensuring that all passengers can benefit from the improvements new technology can bring".

Speaking to an audience in York this lunchtime, the new transport secretary said road congestion was a sign of economic success, but it could also threatened future growth.

"Simply building more and more roads is not the answer. We need only to look at other countries which have built more and bigger roads in the past, only to see them fill up again to know that this is not a sustainable approach," Mr Alexander said.

Britain needed "a more radical approach", he insisted, saying: "We know that, on paper, road pricing has the potential to cut congestion long term by nearly half with only four per cent less cars using the road.

"The big challenge is to take road pricing off the drawing board and make it work for road users."

Today's announcement was met with scepticism, however, with shadow transport secretary Chris Grayling warning that road pricing was not the solution to all Britain's congestion problems.

"Yet again we have a secretary of state whose only solution to our transport problems seems to be a road pricing system which couldn't be introduced for a decade," he said.

"It is time ministers realised that we need action now to improve transport and not vague ideas for the distant future. They could start by keeping some of the transport promises they've made in the last few years and then quietly dropped."

Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Alistair Carmichael welcomed the support for road pricing, saying it was an "essential" part in tackling congestion and subsequently cutting CO2 emissions from road transport.

But he warned that the government had "always talked a good game", and called for them to "put their money where their mouth is", by ensuring the scheme was properly funded.