Tory win would threaten trams claim

GREATER Manchester’s £3bn public transport windfall which would bring trams to Oldham town centre could be under threat from Tory leader David Cameron, if he takes power, the deposed chairman of GMPTA claims.

Roger Jones, who lost his seat at the local elections in May, says that a future Conservative Government “would cut the transport budget and re-prioritise schemes that are favoured by the current government”.

Conservative councils at Bury and Trafford are opposed to congestion charging which the Government demands as a condition for the £3bn Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) boost to trams, trains, and buses.

The people of Greater Manchester will vote in December on whether to accept the conditions. But Mr Jones said that even if the vote is a “yes”, the cash would be under threat if the Tories took control in a general election which must take place within the next two years.

Writing in TransportMatters, the online magazine for transport professionals, Mr Jones said: “In short, Greater Manchester would not get anything like the kind of money currently on offer from a Conservative Government, probably around 5 per cent of what is on offer now.”

That would cut the amount of money from £3bn to just £150m — a fraction of the cost of bringing Metrolink to Oldham and Rochdale.

And Mr Jones says the Tories would scrap Manchester’s congestion charge before 2013 in favour of a national scheme.

The Liberal Democrats on GMPTA, led by Oldham councillor Richard Knowles, combined with the Conservatives to unseat Labour.

Mr Jones says of the Lib-Dems: “They are mostly in favour of TIF and they support road pricing but certain councillors on GMPTA and in Stockport are not willing to make public pronouncements because of their fear of the electorate.”

Trafford Conservative deputy leader Councillor Matt Colledge, who has taken over as GMPTA chairman, said: “If the people across the 10 councils vote in favour of TIF and it therefore goes ahead, then I would imagine a Conservative Government would honour a TIF agreement.”