Warning on funding for transport plan

London mayor ‘has got his eyes on’ the £3bn
LONDON is waiting to snap up the £3 billion earmarked for the public transport improvements which would bring trams to Oldham town centre, it is claimed.

Manchester City Council deputy leader Jim Battle warned: “Boris Johnson (London’s mayor) has got his eye on this money.”

Co-incidentally, it was reported this week that the capital faces a £3 billion shortfall in funding for Tube improvements.

Councillor Battle was speaking at the launch in Rochdale of the Yes campaign for the forthcoming referendum on the congestion charge scheme for Greater Manchester.

The launch also heard from Rochdale MP Paul Rowen, who said: “I get fed up as a northern MP that when London wants something, the cheque is written.

He spoke of “people standing like sardines” on Manchester– bound trains through Oldham — overcrowding which would be relieved by Metrolink. After the launch, supporters gathered outside Rochdale train station to demonstrate their support.

The Yes campaign is a coalition of businesses, unions, community groups, students and pensioners, dedicated to persuading the people of Greater Manchester to accept the government’s offer of Transport Innovation Fund cash in return for congestion charging.

Ken Knott, chief executive of North-West property developer Ask, who chaired the launch, said individual organisations allied to the campaign would continue to canvass support for a Yes vote — without any public funds.

Oldham council leader Councillor Howard Sykes is demanding changes to the charging boundary to avoid the people of Hollinwood, who live near the M60, being treated unfairly. But Mr Knott insisted that 90 per cent of the people of Greater Manchester would pay no charge at all.

Dave Coleman, from the Clean Air Now alliance, warned: “We might only have five or six years before climate change becomes unstoppable....and we have the fourth worst congestion in Europe.”

Trade union boss Stefan Choleskwa added: “The improvements would be a great boost to jobs in Greater Manchester, not only now but for the future.”

And taxi driver Pat Connor said: “Cab drivers have seen traffic get worse and worse in Manchester over the over the last 10 years. Obviously we want to see traffic moving if we are going to make the most of our working day.”

But Peel Holdings managing director Andrew Simpson, who leads the business group opposed to congestion charging, said: “Everybody would like to support a good set of transport proposals but these are not good at all.

“There are 440,000 people inside the M60 and only a third of them work in Manchester. But all these proposals are about commuting to and from the city centre.

“And it beggars belief that we can afford the public transport improvements if 90 per cent of the population do not pay the charge.”