Give Wilmslow Residents a Say on Congestion Charging! (June 2007)

Despite our differences with Chester, residents of Wilmslow and Macclesfield would rather be in Cheshire than be swallowed up by Greater Manchester. But having said that we cannot ignore what our giant neighbour is getting up to even if they choose to ignore us. If Manchester get government backing for their plans to introduce congestion charging for drivers on their roads, it will hit many of our residents.

Thousands of local people travel in and out of Manchester for their daily work, on a school run or just to visit family and friends. We shall be affected by these charges but we are not being consulted. Manchester is keen to press on because the plans are part of a deal for a £1billion government grant to extend Metrolink to the airport and to the Trafford Centre. The grant would be boosted by a £2billion loan, which would partly be paid back with money raised from MBC residents paying the congestion charges. Most of us say that an extended Metrolink is good news. It has proved to be a highly successful and popular service and every extra line that takes Manchester Airport traffic out of Macclesfield, Wilmslow and Handforth is welcomed. But if we are being asked to pay part of the cost, how and when are we to be consulted on it?

We are still far away from final decisions on pricing but we have been given some figures to work on. If you drive from Handforth to Manchester City Centre for your daily work the £5 per day cost would set you back about £1150 in a year. But your office colleague who lives nearby in Heald Green pays only £2 per day. Drivers from Poynton going to a Manchester suburb will pay £3 per day but neighbours over the border in Stockport will pay nothing at all.

I am in favour of schemes that reduce congestion and encourage people to use a clean, efficient and reliable public transport system and I recognise that it has to be paid for. But I do not agree with such a major scheme being discussed on our doorstep without any clear route for our opinions to be expressed, heard and taken into account. I urge the Leader of Macclesfield Borough Council to raise this issue with Manchester. Our Leaders hung back in the recent debate over Local Government Reorganisation and waited for others to make our decisions for us – and look what a mess that got us into. The Leader of the Council must not just sit in the Town Hall waiting for Manchester to decide how badly MBC voters will be hit by this new tax simply by going to work.

Adrian Bradley
Borough Councillor for Lacey Green
County Councillor for Wilmslow North

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