Greater Manchester’s New elected Mayor should present the case for introducing a congestion charge into the city.

That’s one of the conclusions of a new report out today from the think tank Centre for Cities.

The report says that congestion charging will help manage city centre traffic as part of a bold infrastructure plan, that signals an environmentally friendly agenda.
Greater Manchester voted against this measure back in 2008 but say’s the think tank, The mayor should show that congestion charging can benefit the whole city region, through investment in public transport for poorly connected areas.

“Manchester city centre is the city-region’s economic hub, but traffic congestion is hampering commuters, public transport and businesses, and is restricting the city-region’s economic growth. Introducing a congestion charge would help address that problem, and could also generate funding to improve public transport in less well-connected parts of Greater Manchester – for example, by subsidising more frequent bus routes to places such as Rochdale” said Alexandra Jones, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities.

The Interim of Manchester Tony Lloyd however disagrees with the verdict of the think tank.He told About Manchester that the public voted very definitively against the charge back in 2008 and it is not the right direction to take Greater Manchester in at this time.

“We have got to deal with congestion because it is snarling up people’s transport opportunities and creating pollution that is a hazard to health but it will be dealt with by building a public transport system that will get people out of their own cars.”

The policy is one of three that the report recommends for the winner of this May’s election.

The Mayor should commit to the spatial plan, allowing them to be bold and strategic about the future growth of the city-region.

This would, they say, ensure the right types of housing and offices get built in the areas of the city-region that need them most. This includes building high grade offices in the city centre, while prioritising other parts of the city region for housing.

Finally they say, the new holder of the office should use their power over the social care budget to match need with spending, avoiding waste. 

In particular the mayor should use council tax to increase the social care budget.

Alexandra Jones, added:

“Greater Manchester’s metro mayor will face many challenges when they take office, including acting on their campaign pledges, preparing the city-region for Brexit, and establishing the new mayoral office. To make a success of the role, it’s vital that the mayor acts quickly to address the biggest issues that the city-region faces.”

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