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Scotsman: Edinburgh Evening News

Wed 31 Jul 2002

Court bid to rule out road tolls fails

Blow to protesters as London scheme set to go ahead

By TOM CURTIS City Council Reporter

A COURT challenge to Mayor Ken Livingstone’s scheme to charge motorists £5 to drive into central London was today thrown out by judges.

Westminster Council and the Kennington Association, with the backing of Kensington and Chelsea borough council, asked the High Court in London to block the congestion-charging project, which is set to be introduced in February.

But Mr Justice Maurice Kay told a packed court: "Westminster’s application for judicial review has been dismissed and the Kennington residents’ application for permission to apply for judicial review has been refused."

Today’s decision came as former transport minister Gavin Strang criticised proposals to force motorists to pay a toll to enter the outskirts of Edinburgh.

It will be a relief to Mr Livingstone, who a few days ago had to abandon his own High Court challenge to the Government’s part-privatisation of the Tube with a legal costs bill estimated at up to £4 million.

During a six-day hearing, thought to have cost about £3m, the congestion scheme was condemned by its opponents as unlawful and likely to increase air pollution and adversely affect the quality of city life.

Mr Livingstone said: "We are happy that our entire approach to the introduction of congestion charging, which has involved an unprecedented level of consultation, has been vindicated."

Councillor Kit Malthouse, deputy leader of Westminster Council, said: "We are deeply disappointed with this ruling. Congestion charging will have a substantial impact on our businesses and residents."

In Edinburgh, Mr Strang spoke out on the last day of the Capital’s own consultation process on congestion charges.

He opposed what is considered the council’s favoured option - cordons round the city centre and city bypass - saying residents on the edge of the city would suffer unfairly if an outer toll boundary was created.

Motorists could be charged £2 per day to drive into the city from 2006.

The Labour MP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh has written to transport leader Councillor Andrew Burns, saying although tolls would help cut congestion and raise millions for public transport, "I would be concerned about the impact of an outer- boundary charge on communities on the outskirts of Edinburgh."

He said he supported the single city centre cordon option, but not the use of two charging boundaries, which the Labour administration favours.

His comments came as the city said it would not extend the survey period, which has been running for seven weeks, although it would accept questionnaires for about another week. Tory and Lib Dem councillors have claimed many people were unaware of the process despite the distribution of 250,000 questionnaires.

Although an online survey and a telephone hotline were set up as well as the leaflet distribution, there was no mailshot to city residents.

Tory transport spokesman Councillor Allan Jackson said: "The timescale is ludicrously short."

Lib Dem counterpart Fred Mackintosh said: "I think it was a major mistake not to put the questionnaire either in the council newspaper or into council tax bills."

Meanwhile, the Tories have been distributing their own "Stop the Tolls" leaflet, and said they had had about 3000 responses, "99 per cent-plus" against charges.

A council spokesman said everyone’s views would be taken into account. "There have been seven weeks to fill out a two-minute questionnaire, 250,000 of which were printed," he added.

Nationalists claimed today they found "overwhelming opposition" in West Lothian to tolls during a "day of action" on Saturday.

This article:
http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=827302002

(posted 7911 days ago)

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