(posted 7936 days ago)The Times
August 01, 2002Court approves London £5 congestion toll
By Ben Webster, Transport CorrespondentA £5 DAILY toll for driving into Central London will be imposed from February, after the High Court ruled yesterday in favour of Ken Livingstone’s scheme to reduce the capital’s traffic congestion.
The Mayor of London was cleared of allegations that he had breached the human rights of people living on the edge of the charging zone by failing either to order a public inquiry into the scheme or a full assessment of its probable environmental impact.
Westminster Council and two members of the Kennington Association, representing residents living on the zone’s southern boundary, had said that thousands of home-owners would suffer more pollution and congestion.
Mr Livingstone has admitted there may be some rise in traffic around the edge of the zone as drivers find “rat runs” to avoid paying the charge, which will apply from 7am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday.
But Mr Justice Kay dismissed all the claims made against the scheme, including the Kennington residents’ evidence that their homes would fall in value by up to £30,000.
The 50 to 60 members of the Kennington Association are now liable for about £20,000 in legal costs and last night appealed for donations.
Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea, which had supported its fellow Conservative-controlled borough as an interested party, were ordered to pay Mr Livingstone’s £1 million legal costs.
In rejecting their application for permission to seek judicial review, the judge said: “Even on a ‘worst case scenario’ of a 25 per cent increase in traffic, the predicted increase in pollution would be small, and the most recent predictions of traffic increase are more in the region of 10 per cent.”
He added: “It may be that a more cautious mayor would have sought to underwrite his judgment by resort to, for example, a public inquiry. But this mayor has decided lawfully against that course.”
Mr Livingstone said: “We are happy that our entire approach to the introduction of congestion charging, which has involved an unprecedented level of consultation, has been vindicated.”
Sources close to the mayor indicated he was ready to make small changes to satisfy local concerns, including shifting Kennington Tube station from zone two to zone one, allowing a 30p discount on a journey to Central London.
Kit Malthouse, deputy leader of Westminster Council, said: “We still believe a major scheme of this nature should not be implemented without more effective scrutiny and we question whether Britain’s first congestion charge should be introduced in a complex city such as London.”
Gordon McDougall, chairman of the Kennington Association, said the two residents who had brought the case could not afford to pay the costs because one was a student and the other unemployed. “We will have to hold a fundraising exercise to pay the costs. This case shows that the Human Rights Act doesn’t give individuals the power to stop large authorities pushing through schemes without proper consultation.”
The AA, which had supported Westminster’s case, said: “This is potentially the biggest transport development to affect the South of England, yet there has been no examination to establish whether the assumptions of those promoting it make sense.”
London First, the business organisation, said: “We are pleased that congestion charging is not being delayed. We have to do something about congestion in London. The present situation threatens to bring it to a standstill.”
How it will work
- Motorists will pay £5 a day to drive into Central London from February 17, 2003
- The zone will operate 7am-6.30pm, Monday-Friday, except public holidays. Weekly, monthly and yearly passes will be available
- Payments to be by phone internet, post or in shops
- Numberplates will be read by cameras at entry and exit
- For one day, the £5 toll allows unlimited zone entries
- 90 per cent discount for people living in the zone