(posted 7956 days ago)The Times
July 15, 2002Q&A: the challenge to Livingstone's car charge
by pa newsA legal challenge to the road congestion charging scheme devised by Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, starts today. Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent, reports on the background and politics of the road battle.
Who are the groups challenging the road charge? How are they funding it?
Westminster City Council is making the main challenge. Two South London residents, Cathy Preece and Gareth Adamson, who are members of the Kennington Association and live near the southern perimeter of the charging zone, are also challenging the charge. Other groups have been listed as "interested parties" which have put in written submissions and witness statements supporting all or part of Westminster's case. They are Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council, AA, Central London Synagogue, British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association, and Covent Garden Markets Authority. Westminster council taxpayers are funding the council's challenge. The Kennington Association is believed to be meeting the residents' costs.
Why are they challenging it? Is this politics, or local action?
Westminster claims that Mr Livingstone should have carried out an environmental impact assessment and held a public inquiry into the charge. The residents claim that the charge will damage property prices along the zone boundary, specifically Kennington Lane, because drivers will "rat run" through their streets to avoid the charge. They also claim that their human rights have been breached because they were not fully consulted.
How long would the public inquiry that they demand take to report?
Several months at least, and certainly long enough to make it very likely that the charge could not start in February as planned.
Are they expected to succeed?
Mr Livingstone has a strong defence in that he stated in his election manifesto that he would introduce the charge in his first term and then held several public consultations. However, his officials did receive a consultants' report in April last year saying there were several issues for which an environmental impact assessment was very likely to be needed. The consultants advised against holding one, however, apparently on the grounds that to do so could undermine the scheme's chances of going ahead. In other words, an assessment might have given an answer which did not suit Mr Livingstone politically.
Is the scheme still on target to start in February? Why so quickly?
The mayor wants the scheme to start by then so it can have run for at least a year by the time he seeks re-election in May 2004. He needs to get the anticipated teething troubles dealt with before he begins his campaign. Also, he has little else to boast about from his first term. He loves to be controversial and to pioneer ideas, as he did with his Fares Fair cheap public transport fares policy for the GLC. London is the first major city in the world to attempt this kind of charging scheme – and the world is watching the fate of Ken's seven million guinea pigs in London with intense interest.
Copyright 2002 Times Newspapers Ltd.