Demands to restrict funds to areas with road pricing slammed

09 August 2007
 
The requirement for TIF bids to include road pricing schemes should be dropped, the transport select committee has recommended, in a highly-critical report on the Transport Innovation Fund.

The select committee criticised the Government for restricting funding for transport improvements to only those local authorities considering local road pricing schemes.

‘This risks blackmailing local authorities to conduct road pricing trials on behalf of government in advance of a possible national scheme.’ Some authorities will waste time and money exploring road pricing where it is not appropriate, and others will be denied funding to pursue ‘soft’ measures which would best address their needs, the report states.

‘If the Congestion TIF is to encourage genuine innovation, the fund should be open to all authorities, including those for which road pricing does not represent the best solution to their congestion.’ It also expressed concern that authorities were using TIF to implement extensive road-building plans, which would increase car dependency and traffic and, thereby, ‘run completely counter to the aims of the TIF’.

It urged the Government to ‘clarify the extent to which road building can form part of a bid and the way in which it will be assessed’. TIF guidance should also include a specific requirement to ensure local authorities provide ‘real alternatives to car use’ before introducing any road pricing scheme.

‘The improvements to public transport can then be linked to road pricing… as a way of building the level of public acceptability.’

The committee warned that the current timetable for submitting TIF bids was too short, and risked wasting authorities’ time and money due to lack of public consultation.

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