Examination of Witnesses (Questions 214-219)
COUNCILLOR RICHARD
BENNETT, COUNCILLOR
TONY PAGE,
MR ROBERT
R KILEY AND
MRS MICHÈLE
DIX
19 JANUARY 2005
Chairman: Good afternoon
to you, lady and gentlemen. We have a little bit of domestic procedure
to go through first. Members having an interest to declare?
Clive Efford: Member of
the Transport & General Workers' Union.
Miss McIntosh: Member of the Public Policy
Committee of the RAC Foundation.
Chairman: Gwyneth Dunwoody, ASLEF.
Mrs Ellman: Member of the Transport &
General Workers' Union.
Mr Stringer: Member of Amicus.
Q214 Chairman: Can I say
before I begin that we are actually very honoured today because
we have with us Mr Neil Parakrama Iddawala who is the Assistant
Secretary General of the Sri Lanka Parliament. I know you will
all join with us in saying that we not only welcome his presence
here in Parliament but perhaps, Mr Iddawala, you would convey
both to your Parliament and your people our very deepest condolences
for the terrible events that happened and say that we send them
our warmest greetings and our greatest support. Ladies and gentlemen,
I think most of you know the ground rules. If you agree with one
another I would be grateful if you would not say so—a rule
that we do try and apply in this Parliament. If you have points
that you want to make perhaps you would catch the Chairman's eye.
May I ask you please to identify yourselves, starting from my
left.
Councillor Bennett: Councillor
Richard Bennett from Reigate and Banstead and I chair the LGA's
Task Group on road pricing
Councillor Page: Councillor Tony
Page, Reading Borough, member of the LGA's Environment Board and
also a member of the Task Group chaired by Richard.
Mr Kiley: I am Bob Kiley, the
Commissioner for Transport in London.
Mrs Dix: I am Michèle Dix,
the Director of Congestion Charging for Transport for London.
Q215 Chairman: Mr Kiley
and Councillor Bennett, did you have any particular remarks you
wished to make or may we go straight to questions?
Councillor Bennett: I am happy
to go straight to questions, Chairman.
Mr Kiley: As am I.
Q216 Chairman: I am going
to ask both of you is some sort of national road pricing system
inevitable? Mr Kiley?
Mr Kiley: The only thing close
to inevitable in life will be the stroke of three o'clock this
afternoon which is about ten minutes away. I do feel, though,
that a road pricing system that affects major roads in the country
will happen but it will not happen if we keep talking about time-frames
that are anywhere from ten to 15 years in duration because that
message is really a lullaby to rock us to sleep, so I would like
to think that it would be possible by using technology that actually
works, which is the so-called `tag and beacon' technology, to
get on with beginning to put in place (and we are certainly willing
to take the lead in London as Ken Livingston said when he was
speaking in Edinburgh the other day) a road pricing scheme or
two or perhaps even three that could set the model both through
mistakes that we will make and through daring adventures that
we will engage in before the rest of the country. So we are eager
to get on with it. We believe there is a technology available
that can work. It will not be the camera technology that has been
used for congestion charging (which is not the same thing as road
pricing) but it is something that can stand the test of time,
and if the so-called overhead satellite system does not get to
a point where it is useable then this could be a model for national
use.
Q217 Chairman: Am I to
take it from that that you are saying the sort of timescale could
be much shorter than that which would be generally envisaged?
Mr Kiley: If we get about it post
haste I do not think we need to wait as long as ten to 15 years,
which is what it conceivably could take for the overhead satellite
system to demonstrate itself, to prove that it can work. My feeling
would be that we could get on with this in the next four to seven
years if we could start right away employing the technology that
I just mentioned.
Q218 Chairman: Councillor
Bennett, do you agree with that?
Councillor Bennett: I think, Madam
Chairman, all the evidence which we received at our Task Group
was that the current system is no longer sustainable and that
some change is inevitable and that road pricing, providing it
is done in the right way and there are some caveats within that,
seems to be the most sensible way forward.
Q219 Chairman: And that
was a generally held view of your Committee, was it?
Councillor Bennett: It was and
of those who gave evidence to it.
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