Road tolls sent £9m of our cash down drain

Money for nothing

Total spending on congestion charging scheme between 2000 and 2005

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837,222 Staff costs

1,515,030 Communications and information

1,238,484 Legal costs

2,070,824 Technical costs

521,781 Referendum

2,844,576 Other

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Total: 9,027,917The council's bid to introduce London-style congestion charging cost taxpayers 9,027,917.

And another 100,000 is likely to be added to the bill by the end of this financial year from outstanding payments still to be agreed.

The figures, released to the Evening News under the Freedom of Information Act, show more than 1.5m was spent on the publicity campaign alone, which involved leaflets and marketing.

The amount spent on the abandoned scheme was today attacked by politicians who campaigned against tolls earlier this year, when the council lost a referendum by a majority of three to one.

Scottish Socialist leader and Lothians MSP Colin Fox said transport supremo Andrew Burns should resign immediately for "squandering" public money.

"I am flabbergasted to hear that more than 9m was spent on trying to persuade the people of Edinburgh to accept a pig-in-a-poke idea," he said. "This spending will come back to haunt the councillors involved. Councillor Burns and [council leader] Donald Anderson should consider their positions."

The council is spending millions of pounds on transport policies. Its controversial shake-up of traffic in the city centre - most of which was reversed last week - is expected to cost at least 3.6m.

And the bid to reintroduce trams has already cost more than 16.5m, with a potential funding gap of 340m further down the line if the plans are approved.

The 9m on road tolls was spent jointly by TIE - the council's arms-length transport company - and the council itself since 2000. The Scottish Executive has agreed to pay for half of the costs as it insisted the council must demonstrate popular support.

At the start of the year, the council insisted the total expenditure would be 8.1m.

Tory transport spokesman on the council, Allan Jackson, said: "We said all along that this would cost in excess of 9m and we have now been proved right.

"The council has a cavalier attitude towards spending other people's money.

"The road tolls scheme was meant to work together with the Central Edinburgh Traffic Management scheme, which explains the recent problems."

SNP Lothians MSP Kenny MacAskill added: "This is a scandalous waste. This cash could and should have been spent on the pot holes that litter our roads."

But Cllr Burns today insisted the 9m was well spent.

"During this time we secured over 1 billion of funding for transport improvements, such as trams, airport rail link and park-and-rides, from the Scottish Executive," he said.

"For every pound spent on congestion charging, we have secured over 100 for transport improvements. If the council had not been forward-thinking and ambitious by pursuing congestion charging the city would not have been rewarded with such money."