Shrewsbury shies away from road charging

04 April 2007

A London-style congestion charge scheme would not work in Shrewsbury, according to a Shropshire County Council transport leader.
If the council was to implement a form of road-user charging for the historic town, ‘it would need to be far more subtle and flexible, and it would have to cost less’, head of special projects, Rob Surl, told delegates at the English Historic Towns Forum’s conference Transport innovation in historic towns, in Shrewsbury last week.
The council, which is bidding for a slice of the Government’s Transport Innovation Fund (TIF), is in the process of devising a scheme to improve the county’s transport system that could include a northwest relief road, ‘world-class’ public transport, environmental improvements and a road-user charge. London’s congestion charge would be ‘too expensive and inflexible’ for Shrewsbury, he said. It was also designed to keep cars out and was not integrated with other modes of transport. A possible system for Shrewsbury could involve the council charging the public a lower fee, for example, less than £1, and this could be linked to discounts on car parking costs.
A ‘smartcard’ technology could also be introduced, which would help integrate the system with other forms of public transport. All income would be reinvested into local transport. Surl made it clear that in no way had the council decided that congestion charging would be implemented. It was simply part of a ‘package’ to improve the transport network that was subject to consultation. The council had included part of the relief road cost and environmental improvements to the TIF bid – added extras to the brief of tackling congestion, improving public transport and road pricing. TIF funding, it was hoped, would pay for the construction of the relief road, Surl said.
The preferred route had been agreed, and the total cost was expected to be up to £70M. ‘That doesn’t mean the Government will approve the bid that we decide to put in,’ he added. The council will this year be developing the whole project to go toward further rounds of public consultation. Surl expected to have the project completed by the end of the 2007-2008 financial year, with a political decision made by July 2008.

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