Memorandum by the Local Government Association
(RP 33)
ROAD PRICING
1. The Local Government Association welcomes
the decision of the Transport Committee to hold an Inquiry into
the prospects for national road pricing. The LGA will be happy
to give oral evidence to the Committee, if invited, and to provide
any help that we can in the course of the Inquiry.
2. The Committee has indicated that it wishes
at this stage to examine how the proposals being put forward by
the Department for Transport will change the way we pay for road
use, namely through toll roads, road pricing, congestion charging,
lorry road user charging and parking levies. The Committee wishes
to examine what impact these policies could have and how soon
their widespread adoption could be seen. The Committee has indicated
seven questions for witnesses to address, which this memorandum
will deal with in turn.
Question 1 Should road pricing be introduced
for certain sections of the road network in the short term?
3. In answering this question, it may be
helpful to the committee first of all to define what the LGA understands
by the term "road pricing". The Association has recently
carried out its own hearings into the subject of road pricing
and agreed the following as a working definition:
"Road pricing is a charge for the use of
a motor vehicle on public roads which reflects the user's choice
of where and when to drive"
4. The Association also believes that, to
be practical, equitable, and publicly acceptable, a road pricing
regime should have three key aims:
— To provide a flexible tool for national
and local government to manage the demand for road space.
— To create a demonstrably fair and
transparent system for collecting and spending motoring related
revenue.
— To maintain overall revenue neutrality:
in other words, the total amount of revenue from road and vehicle
taxation should not increase as a result of the introduction of
road pricing, unless there are demonstrable benefits to road users.
5. Therefore, whilst there may be a place
for local schemes such as congestion charging, work place parking
levies, and toll roads in the short term to act as pilot or pathfinder
schemes, they should not be seen as an end in themselves, mainly
because they continue to be additional charges on top of the existing
motoring taxes. It is also important to bear in mind that local
schemes need to be locally negotiated and owned if they are to
be effective and acceptable to the public. The London and Durham
congestion charges, for instance are both technically congestion
charging schemes, but are worlds apart in the way they operate.
They appear to be meeting at least some of their objectives in
terms of reducing congestion, but this success in large part flows
from the ability of the local authorities concerned to adjust
the public transport infrastructure to give motorists real alternatives
to bringing their vehicles into the charging zone.
6. However, to suggest that either scheme
could be transplanted to other cities would be unwise, firstly
because each has been designed to deal with a particular set of
problems unique to the location, and the solutions adopted are
equally unique. Secondly, the multiplication of isolated local
road pricing schemes across the country with different payment
methods and enforcement technologies would be cumbersome, inefficient
and unpopular.
7. The answer to the Committee's question
is, therefore "yes", provided that local communities
are fully engaged in agreeing how road pricing will operate in
there are, and that local road pricing schemes are seen as part
of a framework which enables standardisation of charging and enforcement
technologies.
Question 2 If road pricing is introduced,
what factors should determine which roads are priced and what
technology should be used?
8. The following are the key factors in
determining what roads should be priced (or how the charge should
be varied according to time and place):
— the availability of alternative modes
of transport.
9. These factors will change over time,
and will have different priorities in different areas. It may
for instance be desirable to place a charge on a road through
an area of outstanding natural beauty during the tourist season
to lessen the environmental impact, even though the congestion
by city definitions is not a problem. It may be decided to introduce
a low charge in a town or city with limited public transport but
to increase this over time as the system is improved. Many roads,
even within an all-encompassing national road pricing network
would never be charged for because of their remoteness and the
inherent difficulty of providing public transport.
10. The technology that can be used depends
on whether we are talking about a local scheme or a national scheme.
The London congestion charge uses number plate recognition, Durham
uses a rising bollard and toll roads and bridges use variations
of the traditional toll booths. As indicated in the answer to
the previous question, a multiplicity of different technologies,
particularly for payment, would be counter productive. A national
scheme would need to have common technologies to make the charging
and enforcement processes seamless and transparent from the point
of view of the user.
11. The LGA does not wish to go further
than this at present in saying what technology should be used.
Technical options have been considered in the Feasibility Study
on road pricing, to which the Association contributed, and clearly
further work needs to be done. The evidence we have seen, however,
strongly suggests that the main obstacle to road pricing is political
will, and not technology.
Question 3 How "hi-tech" does road
pricing need to be?
12. Isolated "one off" road pricing
schemes can be relatively "low tech", ie using readily
available technology with proven reliability. In general, however,
the wider the scope of a road pricing scheme the more "high
tech" it needs to be. Thus the Durham congestion charging
scheme uses a "rising bollard" and card entry; toll
roads, bridges and tunnels use toll booths, and the London charge
uses a cordon of number plate recognition cameras around the zone
and a range of ways to pay the charge in person or by telephone
or internet. A nationwide scheme of road pricing would need to
be quite "high tech" by today's standards with the ability
to identify and track the movements of individual vehicles with
the precision necessary to know what stretch of road they are
using at what time of the day. "Hi tech" does not necessarily
mean less desirable, or more expensive. The communications revolution
of the last two decades show that yesterday's hi-tech luxuries
have become today's (relatively) low tech necessities.
Question 4 What role should local highway
authorities play in introducing road pricing?
13. Whether we are talking about a series
of local road pricing schemes or a national scheme with local
variation, the role of local government is crucial. It is important
to stress here that the LGA considers that local government as
a whole has a key role in introducing road pricing, and not just
as part of their highways function.
14. Congestion is a national problem which
impacts each local community in different ways. Therefore road
pricing needs to be part of a package of measures aimed at improving
local as well as national transport infrastructure, and managing
demand for roads at both the strategic and local level. Whilst
central government's role is to establish road pricing as part
of the national taxation structure, local councils would be responsible
for other elements of the road pricing "package". The
main aspects of the local government contribution to the "package"
are set out below:
IMPROVING INFRASTRUCTURE
15. Local authorities are responsible for
maintaining most roads, and have the powers to improve standards,
build new roads, improve junctions, alter signalling, and widen
carriageways etc, all of which are key elements in any strategy
for relieving congestion both within and between urban areas.
TRANSPORT PLANNING
16. The Transport Act 2000 requires local
authorities to prepare Local Transport Plans and bus strategies.
It would clearly be crucial for such plans to take account of
road pricing, and to form an integral part of the process for
deciding when and where to introduce charges. The experience in
London suggests that the ability to improve local public transport
provision to provide alternatives to car travel will be key to
the workability and acceptability of road pricing. There is, however,
a huge gap between the powers of the Mayor of London over public
transport services and the very limited powers of local authorities
elsewhere since bus deregulation in the 1980s. This gap in many
cases will need to be filled with wider powers, particularly in
larger cities, if local government is to be able to fulfil its
role in securing an integrated approach to road use management
and making road pricing work as it should.
TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT
17. Local authorities have extensive powers
and responsibilities relating to traffic management; indeed these
powers have been recently extended by the Traffic Management Act
2004. These powers include the ability to:
— restrict the use of roads, on certain
days, at different times of the day, by different classes of vehicle;
— restrict or regulate on-street parking,
provide off-street parking, provide "park and ride"
schemes;
— provide traffic calming measures,
pedestrianised zones, and bus lanes; and
— regulate street works by statutory
undertakers.
LAND USE
PLANNING
18. Local authorities as planning authorities
have to take account of transport provision in the development
of planning policies. In the longer term those planning policies
designed to encourage development which minimises the need to
travel, for work, education, public services would have a major
role to play in the "package" alongside road pricing;
producing new developments with a sustainable balance between
public and private transport, walking and cycling for the benefit
of all road users.
SERVICE PLANNING
19. Local authorities at all tiers can and
do contribute indirectly to the management of road space by providing
services in a user friendly way, which require fewer and shorter
journeys for the communities they serve. Initiatives are already
in place include: extended schools which provide multiple services
on a single site; multi-use library sites; e-government initiatives,
which enable citizens to access local authority services remotely.
Services which are now commonplace, such as meals on wheels and
mobile libraries are all part of the equation.
LOCAL AUTHORITIES
AS COMMUNITY
LEADERS
20. In the main, policies for reducing congestion
have historically been centred around improving roads and public
transport, or placing restrictions on the use of roads. Road pricing
as a concept works best when both are achieved in a co-ordinated
way that makes sense for, and secures the support of the community.
Local authorities, because of their unique community leadership
role have a pivotal role in engaging with local communities to
ensure that the balance between "carrot" and "stick"
is appropriate, and sustainable.
21. Any national road pricing scheme, needs
to have the facility for local decision making about the level
and coverage of charges for road use. It is crucial that road
pricing is seen to be fair not just as a principle, but in practice.
To achieve this it is likely that pilot programmes will need to
be run to find out the best ways of implementing road pricing.
The end result should be a national scheme, with local flexibility
about the level and incidence of charges to reflect local circumstances,
and in particular the extent to which road users have alternatives
to incurring a charge for using particular roads.
22. The congestion charge in London, whilst
still controversial, has shown that local government can make
an impact on previously intractable transport problems given the
tools for the job. Before the introduction of the charge the Mayor
and Transport for London invested heavily in improving public
transport-primarily the bus network-which has had a significant
impact: London has seen a 38 per cent increase in the patronage
of buses, of which half is estimated to be a modal switch in transport
use as a result of the congestion charge. London is, of course
unique. It is unlikely to be practical or desirable to replicate
in other parts of the country, London's public transport infrastructure
and the powers of the Mayor of London over public transport services.
However since bus deregulation in the 1980s the gap between London
and the rest of the country in this regard has become very wide.
A broader range of options for local authorities to use influence
public transport provision outside the capital will be necessary
if local government is to be able to fulfil its role in securing
an integrated approach to road use management.
Question 5 How easy will it be to move from
individual toll roads and local urban congestion charging schemes
in the short term, to national road pricing in the longer term,
and what needs to be done to ensure the transition is a success?
23. It would be wrong to say that the introduction
of national road pricing will be easy. However, provided that
the objective of a national scheme is always kept in mind, there
appears no reason why local tolls or congestion charging schemes
should not be part of the process of moving towards national road
pricing. It will be important for the systems established to be
capable of being linked into a national scheme eventually, and
for local schemes to be viewed as part of a package of measures
including highway and public transport investment, service development
and forward looking land use planning.
24. Above all, success will rely an all
the stakeholders central and local government, the motor industry
and the business community to ensure that road pricing is not
seen as a question of "government v motorist" or "environment
v industry" but as part of a package of measures giving road
users and local communities real choices about travel and lifestyle,
providing a level playing field for the transport community, and
providing the UK with a sustainable public and private transport
system.
Question 6 How will the Lorry Road User Charge
fit into any national road pricing and motorway tolling developments?
25. The lorry road user charge (LRUC) will
be far easier to implement than a universal road pricing scheme
because it appears to have the support of the freight transport
industry, who can see the economic benefits and because having
their road use monitored is already imbedded in the industry through
the use of tachographs. It will be introduced well ahead of universal
road pricing and will no doubt be a test bed for some of the technologies
and systems to be used for private vehicles. The LRUC will be
about changing the current taxation system for HGVs, and for as
long as local congestion charging and tolling schemes are in addition
to regular motoring taxation there should be no conflict between
the two.
Question 7 Are there other measures which
could reduce congestion more effectively?
26. This final question is perhaps misplaced.
The LGA believes that road pricing for all vehicles could be an
effective means of reducing congestion, but only as part of a
wider package of measures including:
— Investment in public transport.
— Better traffic management.
— Initiatives to minimise congestion
(such as reducing the impact of the "school run" by
encouraging walking or providing school buses).
— Land use planning which reduces the
need to travel for work, education, shopping and leisure.
— Service planning which reduces the
need for people to travel to access public services.
— Investment in highways maintenance
and improvement, including new road building where justified.
27. All of the above can reduce congestion,
but road pricing holds out the possibility of linking all of these
strategies together. It is not a case of any one of these measures
being more effective at reducing congestion than any other, but
of none of them being truly effective on their own. For all its
faults, London's public transport system is one of the most extensive
of any major city in the world, but congestion in the centre has
risen inexorably until the advent of the congestion charge. The
charge, to the extent that it meets its objectives, has done so
in large part because of increased investment in the bus network.
This in turn was only possible because of a tradition of integrated
transport planning in the capital. Other communities around the
country have their own unique problems and advantages. Reducing
congestion will always require a variety of measures in a variety
of combinations in different places, determined by local circumstances.
November 2004
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