Few people like congestion, fewer people like Congestion Charging. The people of Stockport, and indeed the whole of Greater Manchester, work hard and pay their taxes. They deserve to have an efficient, modern, integrated transport system paid for out of public funds. Why should we pay twice? The Labour Government is prepared to give us £1.5 billion (of our own money) and lend us £1.2 billion. We must then find £1.2 billion in Congestion Charges to repay the loan. Interest on the loan is £57 million per year shared among the ten local authorities in Greater Manchester. That means Stockport paying an average £5.7 million interest charges annually. Any shortfall in income from the Congestion Charge will have to be met by an increase in Council Tax. When the Labour Government took this country into a disastrous war in Iraq, it readily pledged £5.5 billion and promised more if necessary. If this Government had dealt with the peaceful needs of the people of Greater Manchester with the same prodigality as it displayed when rushing into an illegal war, we would have had a wonderful transport system by now. Why should we pay twice because we have a Government which is prepared to spend many billions on bailing out greedy and reckless bankers and waste even more billions on such unnecessary things as ID Cards and a database containing the personal details of every school child in the country. The result will be that they will amass more and more information about the citizens of this country which can then be left on trains or anywhere else, to the delight of paedophiles and terrorists. The people of Stockport are promised very little in return for paying Congestion Charges. What will we get? No Metro and much less than most other authorities. We are promised longer trains with more seats. Shouldn’t we be getting those already when we pay such exorbitant fares? We are promised more buses. Shouldn’t we be getting those without being charged again? It is rare for all the political groups on Stockport Council to agree but in a recent Council debate on the Congestion Charge, there was nobody who supported the idea. If you vote ‘Yes’ to the TIF Proposals in the Referendum, you are agreeing to be charged again and again and again. Vote ‘NO’ and keep the money you have worked so hard to own.

Cllr Anthony O'Neill
Heatons North

This article, by Cllr Anthony O'Neill, was first published by the Stockport Express 12/11/2008.