Warning of 'nightmare scenario' if road tolls are vetoed

Published on Tuesday 5 October 2004 00:12

THE "dour attitude" in Edinburgh could wreck the city’s transport system by uniting people against congestion charging, a government expert warned yesterday.

In what David Begg described as a "nightmare scenario", he said that if the 2-a-day scheme was rejected in a local referendum next year, Edinburgh would become increasingly congested and polluted.

Mr Begg, the chairman of the Commission for Integrated Transport and a former city council transport convener, said: "There would be tinkering, the odd improvement, but there would be no trams, slower buses, growing congestion and Edinburgh would become less attractive."

He said residents faced a "stark choice" in the referendum, planned for February. "They can vote for something radical that will put Edinburgh on the world map, or vote for no change. But be clear what no change would mean," he said.

However, he feared that the "forces of conservatism - with a small ‘c’" would conspire to scupper the plans. He said: "The dour Edinburgh attitude could prevail - the ‘we don’t want anything like that here’ view."

Mr Begg added that a second Forth road ridge posed a further threat to the city if there was no congestion charging to stave off the huge influx of extra vehicles it could create. He said: "I would not want that for my native city."

But Mr Begg, who was addressing a conference in Edinburgh on congestion charging, organised by the transport campaign group TRANSform Scotland, acknowledged that holding a referendum was a risky strategy. He said it had been forced on the council by the need to salvage the scheme in the face of opposition within the authority.

He said: "It is always the last throw of the dice."

The referendum is due to follow further consideration of the charging scheme by city councillors once they receive the results of an inquiry into the plans later this month.

There has been speculation that further changes will be made, such as abandoning the proposed outer cordon.

Under current plans, drivers would be charged only once to drive into Edinburgh across either of two cordons, on weekdays from 2006. The inner ring, around the Old and New Towns, would operate from 7am-6:30pm, with the outer cordon, inside the city bypass, operating in the morning peak only.

Only the Greens backed the scheme among the opposition parties which addressed the conference. The Liberal Democrats and SNP both described the proposals as flawed, with the former calling for more public transport improvements first.

The Conservatives urged greater parking restrictions as an alternative, while the SSP said charging would hit low-paid workers forced to travel into Edinburgh to get work.

However, the Greens said car growth had made social exclusion worse, and 42 per cent of Edinburgh residents did not have access to a car.