Congestion Charging

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Congestion Charging ahead

Oct 17 2003

IT'S been hailed a success, but not in Kennington. The community, perhaps the fiercest critics of Ken's congestion charge, are not happy. So they have drawn up a plan to extend the zone south.

Transport Reporter OSCAR MORTALI recounts reaction to the plan at a lively meeting in Kennington...

IF YOU think of the congestion charge as a mutant disease, why would you want to pass it on to other communities?" - 243 days later, and the congestion charge is still dividing Kennington.

Mayoral candidates, MPs, councillors, London Assembly members and anybody who's anybody flocked to Kennington on Tuesday night.

There was even some space set aside for residents. The meeting, hosted by the Kennington Association, was entitled Transport and Traffic in Kennington.

But these days "transport and traffic" roughly equates to "the congestion charge" in this part of the world.

The "mutant disease" analogy came from resident Ricky Rennalls, referring to tentative plans by the Kennington Association to extend the zone south into parts of Brixton, Camberwell, Clapham and Battersea.

He said: "This is simply playing pass the parcel."

But criticism of the plan provoked an instant response from John Clemens, chairman of the Kennington Association.

"We support moving the boundary up to river," he said "but we consider this is totally impossible to win - hopeless.

"I do not for a moment say the route we have drawn up here is the route we should go for.

"But I am trying to improve life in Kennington. I am not trying to improve life worldwide, in London or the whole of South London."

Kennington Lane aside, the community is still split.

THE Association's gripe against the charge didn't just begin on February 17.

Months before the £5-a-day scheme came into effect, fears were expressed the Kennington Lane boundary would divide the community, increase jams, threaten businesses and increase pollution. Eight months on, it says all its fears have materialised. The community felt so aggrieved, two residents put their names to a High Court challenge to Ken Livingstone. They lost and were landed with a £20,000 costs bill. Today, it is still being paid off. At Tuesday's meeting, at a cramped St Anselm's Church Hall, Jeremy Evans, Transport for London's (TfL) traffic manager for congestion charging, stood up and told the community it HAD BEEN consulted.

Conservative Lambeth councillor Bernard Gentry begged to differ.

"I have no doubt TfL do consult, the problem is they don't take notice of the consultation."

Cllr Gentry even went as far as comparing TfL with the old Railtrack, adding: "It has to learn to listen to people, not impose."

It was a point seized upon by Simon Hughes, the Lib Dem mayoral candidate, who this time next year may well have inherited Ken Livingstone's road-pricing scheme.

Mr Hughes said: "I share people's frustrations that the scheme was pushed through rather than adapted, taking into account people's opinions.

"It is very clear that the consultation was not good enough. People who did respond were not listened to.

"Congestion charging should be for the Mayor to propose, but for the people to agree."

The number of cars in town may be down 16 per cent, actual congestion may be down 32 per cent and more Londoners may be turning to different modes of transport. But the good people of Kennington still do not agree.

THE plan to extend the zone south was prompted by a proposed extension west, into well-to-do Kensington and Chelsea. Ken Livingstone has asked TfL officers to conduct a feasibility study into the western extension. By law, a change to the Mayor's transport strategy would be needed.

TfL's Jeremy Evans insisted no decision would be made until AFTER the mayoral election. But association chairman John Clemens asked:

"Kennington is in central London. Kensington and Chelsea is not.

"Is your reason for extending west that residents in Kensington and Chelsea are rich and influential and that people here are seen as small and insignificant?"

The man from TfL insisted this was not the reason. He said the area was already subject to allday congestion, in Zone 1 on the Tube and had natural boundary roads.

The latter of these two points are both ongoing sore points with the residents of Kennington.

Angie Bray, Conservative London Assembly member for Kensington and Chelsea, pointed out: "There is no guarantee that the same deal will apply. People in the extended zone may be offered a 50 per cent discount, not the 90 per cent discount."

Fellow Tory Cllr Gentry added: "You can extend the zone all the way to the M25 if you want, but movement in the zone will increase the larger it gets."

Last year, before the charge was introduced, there were widespread calls in Kennington for the natural boundary of the scheme to be the River Thames.

Vauxhall MP Kate Hoey, a fierce critic of the scheme, said: "Either the boundary stops at the river, or it goes to the South Circular. Either you have one whole borough in, or one whole borough out - you don't go splitting communities."

Rather than the extension south, the "river boundary" proposal met with most approval on Tuesday. An unofficial show of hands backed this up. Whether this is a realistic option remains to be seen.

BOUNDARIES aside if, come May 2004, Simon Hughes does take over Ken's City Hall hot seat, the South London MP has some interesting ideas.

He mooted a buffer zone outside the boundary and would also reconsider the cost of the charge and the hours it would run.

He also suggested a scheme where drivers pay for 25 tickets and use them at their leisure. Or a scheme where drivers get the first five trips free, so as not to deter the occasional shopper.

He said: "On balance it seems to me to have worked - on balance. I say give it a year. You see it through the Christmas shopping period, take it to next February and then you review it.

"Unless the Conservative candidate [Steve Norris] wins, there will be a congestion charge running. We must work on the basis there will be a charge and improve it."

Caroline Pidgeon, Lib Dem deputy Leader of Southwark council, echoed Simon Hughes.

"We have to see it through into the winter and see how it works."

She said talk of a southern extension was "premature", adding efforts should instead focus on a campaign to get Kennington and Oval in Zone 1 of the Tube map.

Kate Hoey was in agreement with Mr Hughes on one point. The charge is here to stay. "The problem is, once it gets into the income stream, no mayoral candidate is going to stop it."

She then went on to hit out at Capita, the private firm running the scheme on the Mayor's behalf.

"The way it is operated by Capita is a disgrace - an utter disgrace. I am dealing with three dozen cases of inaccurate fines at the moment."

TfL's Jeremy Evans would only say: "I am still not saying it is perfect. We must ensure Capita deliver a proper service and get what we pay for."

LOVE it or hate it, the congestion charge divides people, nowhere more so than Kennington. A major issue in SE11 and across London is the crippling effect on businesses in the area.

It is claimed many traders are on the verge of abandoning the area, if they haven't done so already. TfL's Jeremy Evans said the effect on local businesses were "very much exaggerated." He did add, however, that TfL is looking into the concerns. But Kennington residents fear it will be too little, too late.

Other issues touched upon in Tuesday's gathering included the removal of red route restrictions on Saturdays, the effect of the charge on schools, the effect on pensioners who say their families and friends cannot afford to drive into the zone to visit them and on patients and visitors to South London hospitals.They are all issues yet to be addressed by Ken Livingstone.

Next week, Tory Mayoral candidate Steve Norris is due to launch his campaign in Lambeth.

It's odds on congestion charging will be top of the agenda.

In Kennington it has been top of the agenda for two years.

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