C-charge scheme is flawed — MP

FAILSWORTH and Hollinwood residents will vote against the Manchester congestion charge unless simple changes are made to the scheme, an MP is warning.

David Heyes, whose Ashton constituency includes the two areas, says people with no intention of travelling to Manchester will be hit as they go about their daily lives.

He has written to the Future Transport Consultation Team to welcome the prospect of major investment in transport in Greater Manchester and says it is a once in a lifetime chance.

But he added: “Many of my constituents will have no choice but to cross the motorway to get to where they work, to take children to school or perhaps to perform caring duties.

“They won’t be contributing to urban congestion but they’ll be forced to pay under the current plans.

“For example, I’ve been told about a Hollinwood resident who works in Oldham town centre but needs to drop off her children at Kaskenmoor School before travelling on to work.

“And a Failsworth woman who helps out with child care by collecting her grandchildren from nursery in Oldham.

“There is a common-sense solution to this problem, which is supported by Labour in Tameside and Oldham.

“They suggest that travellers who cross the outer ring road should only incur a congestion charge if they also cross the inner ring in the same inward or outward peak-time journey.

“I have asked the consultation team to give this idea very serious consideration.

“I don’t want the whole scheme to fall because the congestion charging element is flawed.

“The prospect of investment on such a grand scale is to be welcomed, but the unfairness in the congestion charge needs to be fixed if it is to have any chance of being accepted by the electorate in the referendum.”