Memorandum by the North and Western Lancashire
Chamber of Commerce (RP 03)
M6 TOLL ROAD CONSULTATION
By way of background North and Western Lancashire
Chamber of Commerce represents 1,200 business members in every
industry sector and covering every size of company. The majority
of our members are small businesses. We are a fully Accredited
Chamber of Commerce providing a core range of high quality business
support services.
This position statement has been prepared after
consultation with our members. Many of the points are of a general
nature and statements of principle. However, the document does
make some specific points and recommendations which we hope will
be taken into account.
Our response to the specific questions raised
by the Transport Committee is as follows:
1. How effective has the existing M6 Toll
been in tackling congestion on the M6, on the new toll road, and
on the surrounding area?
It's too early to tell. The Highways Agency's
"M6 Toll Traffic Monitoring Study" proclaims that traffic
using the M6 Toll Road during the first three months of operation
is increasing and is "likely to continue increasing".
However the road has been open less than a year and has yet to
go through the full seasonal cycle. To make a judgment on the
effectiveness of the M6 Toll on the basis of a few months data
would be premature.
2. What impact has the M6 Toll had on traffic
levels?
As above. The "M6 Toll Traffic Monitoring
Study" uses data collated from the first three months operation
of the M6 Toll road. This is too short a timeframe to obtain an
accurate understanding of the impact of the Toll road on traffic
levels.
The report highlights evidence of oscillation
as traffic switches between the M6 Toll and the M6 and acknowledges
that it may take many months (or years) for traffic conditions
to settle and achieve equilibrium. We would be interested to know
whether the increase in toll charges (in August) was as a consequence
of lower than budgeted revenue.
3. Is a new "Expressway" preferable
to widening the existing road?
A Chamber poll on this topic was conducted during
the last week of August. Members were asked to indicate their
preference to one of four alternatives:
(a) To build a new Expressway to run alongside
the existing M6;
(b) To widen the existing M6 to four lanes
between Junctions 11 and 19;
(c) To toll the existing M6;
(d) Leave the M6 as it is and invest in improving
public transport links between Birmingham and Manchester instead.
Our members were pretty clear about what needs
to be done to improve the M6. Whilst the poll showed some support
for building the M6 Expressway over half of the respondents (54%)
preferred to see the M6 widened to four lanes compared to 32%
who wanted to see the Expressway built. A very small percentage
(3%) preferred to see tolling introduced on the existing M6 whilst
11% of respondents wanted to leave the M6 as it is and invest
more in improving rail links between Birmingham and Manchester.
Over 220 businesses (representing 23% of the
membership) responded to the survey—one of the highest response
rates to any Chamber survey in the past three years.
The message from our members suggests that they
are fed up with congestion on the M6 but object to paying more
to avoid it. Motorists in the UK already earn the Government an
estimated £42 billion a year in transport tax revenue and
are fully entitled to a very high quality of service which they
are not properly getting.
This doesn't necessarily mean that road pricing
or road tolling is the answer. Businesses already pay more through
fuel duty and other charges than road users elsewhere in Europe.
To ask UK businesses to pay twice is adding insult to injury.
4. Is this the most cost effective and environmentally
effective solution?
No. In the opinion of our members widening the
existing M6 to four lanes in each direction would be more effective—not
necessarily in pure cost terms (although we wait to see a breakdown
from the Department of Transport of the estimated £40 million
cost per mile of widening the M6 and a similar breakdown of the
cost of building the new Expressway).
The West Midlands to North West multi-modal
study, which reported in 2002, revealed that traffic on the M6
at Staffordshire and Cheshire was within the capacity of the road.
The study eventually recommended widening the
M6 to four lanes in each direction although it said that it was
"a matter of judgment" whether this would be better
than no widening at all. The study specifically ruled out widening
to five lanes in each direction and the concept of building an
entirely separate motorway because of the environmental damage
it would cause.
The Government rejected the study's recommendation
to widen the M6. However in April this year the Highways Agency
announced two motorway widening schemes: a £1.6 billion scheme
to upgrade the M25 involving widening most of the remaining dual
three-lane sections to dual four lanes (covering 67 miles of motorway);
and a £1.9 billion scheme to widen the M1 between junctions
21 and 30, largely to dual four lanes, covering 53 miles of motorway.
5. Have there been any unforeseen impacts
of the existing M6 Toll?
The existing M6 toll road has been open less
than a year and already prices have been increased. This may be
to do with the fact that the Toll road is more widely used by
private cars than road hauliers. The amount of revenue generated
would, therefore, be less as private cars pay a lower toll.
The Government talks about offering choice but
the choice should be between good quality roads and good quality
public transport and not just choice between using one road as
opposed to another.
We are concerned that the Government's consultation
on the M6 Expressway is not just about reducing congestion on
the M6. We suspect that there is a wider agenda to test public
opinion on the principle of building new and bigger roads that
are paid for by tolls rather than public money. If public support
for the concept of a M6 Expressway is proven and the road actually
gets built then it would lead to pressure to introduce tolling
on other motorways such as the M1 and M25.
Hugh Evans
North and Western Lancashire Chamber Of Commerce
September 2004
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