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WEDNESDAY 03/07/02 13:37:01

Livingstone challenged over charges

Two people have launched High Court human rights challenges against London Mayor Ken Livingstone's controversial congestion charging scheme.

Cathy Preece and Gareth Adamson, acting for themselves and the Kennington Association, today won permission to join Westminster Council in its bid to block the project, which involves charging motorists £5 a day to travel within central London.

Ms Preece lives in a basement flat in Kennington Lane, Lambeth, south east London, and Mr Adamson at Cricketers Court, which runs off Kennington Lane.

Today Mr Justice Scott Baker ordered that their application for judicial review should be heard together with the five-day Westminster case, which is due to start on July 15.

Kennington Lane forms part of London's inner ring road between Elephant and Castle and Vauxhall Bridge Road. The inner ring road forms the boundary within which congestion charges will apply.

Lawyers for the Kennington residents are expected to argue that the scheme will lead to a traffic increase on the inner ring road, which will not itself be affected by charges.

This, they say, will adversely affect the local environment and its amenities and local property values, causing a wide-scale breach of human rights.

Residents particularly fear the ill effects on health and wellbeing from a rise in air and noise pollution.

In the connected action, Westminster's legal team is asking the court to overrule the Mayor's decision to give the congestion charging scheme the go-ahead without first causing an environmental impact assessment (EIA) to be produced, or holding a public inquiry into how charging will be introduced and operated.

Mr Livingstone hopes the charge, which is due to be implemented in February next year, will cut congestion by up to 15% and raise at least £130 million a year.

Shadow transport secretary Theresa May has branded the scheme as a "sort of stealth tax, trying to price the motorist off the road" by using untried technology.

Under the scheme, drivers will be charged £5 on weekdays to enter central London between 7am and 6.30pm. Motorists can leave and enter the zone as often as they like for the one-off daily charge.

The area will be policed by 230 cameras which read car registration plates, which will be automatically checked with a central database to see if the daily fee has been paid.

Tickets can be bought up to 10pm on the day of travel, and in advance for chosen dates.

Those who do not pay will be fined up to £120.

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