Congestion Charging

Well I promised I would speak about this in my first post, and so I shall! First I would like to say that I am completely opposed to the concept of Congestion Charging especially in the format being proposed at the moment. I can safely say that if I believed that Bury Conservatives were in favour of the charge then I would have had serious doubts about standing as a candidate.

Now I'd like to explain as well as I can the situation at the moment. At the moment there is a lot of misinformation being bandied around that the consultation regarding funding is a way of getting congestion charging in by the back door, this is not true. The council has put forward a plan to find out how much money will be available to improve public transport within the borough, and if the funding is available without having to implement the congestion charge. That is the crux of the matter. Bury (and Manchester) would benefit greatly from a injection of money to create new services, in particular improved services in the north of Bury. Without these services in place it is futile to penalise people who are not provided enough services to travel around.

This subject I know is very important to people in Prestwich, being on the border of the proposed first boundary of the charge anyone wishing to visit family just over the M60 would be charged, parents taking their children to school would be charged, even going to the new Morrisons being opened would cost you!

I note with Interest that Liberal Democrat national policy is in favour of Congestion Charging, however your local councillors say they disagree with their party! Pandering to public opinion demeans the public they are attempting to serve! The Conservative Party, both nationally and locally, has always opposed congestion charging and there is no difference in Bury! Only a majority Conservative administration can stop Congestion Charging in Bury.