Road Charging

Road-pricing should be used to manage demand for road space and generate additional transport capacity, rather than to price people off the roads altogether.

I am not opposed in principle to road pricing schemes; indeed, I suspect that some degree of road-pricing or an increased use of tolls on our roads are likely to be a part of the strategy of any Government for tackling congestion on our roads. Road pricing legislation should not allow central government to impose road pricing or congestion charging on local communities without their consent, and I do not want to see premature moves to an untested national scheme. The aim of the motorway system is to take traffic off overcrowded local roads. Certainly the proximity of the M25 to our part of Surrey could have major implications. It would be unacceptable if the A3 and the M25 were the first roads to have tolls because of the negative impact on roads in the community.

You may be interested to see my Parliamentary Question to the then Secretary of State for Transport, Cecil Parkinson on 9 July 1990! I was rather ahead of the game on congestion charging!


November 2007