Council Leader criticised for driving to congestion charge meeting!

Councillor Alan Taylor

Councillor Alan Taylor, the Leader of Rochdale Council, has been criticised for driving to a meeting of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) to discuss congestion charging on Friday 26 January. In mitigation he pleaded poor public transport and car sharing with Roger Ellis, the Chief Executive of Rochdale Borough Council.

Councillor Taylor said: “I got well and truly collared when I attended a meeting of AGMA despite car sharing with Roger Ellis, the Chief Executive of our Council.

"The meeting, in Bury, was to discuss the idea of congestion charging and featured the leaders of all ten local authorities in Greater Manchester.  These meetings are usually really positive and this was no different.  This one had more of a focus on it than usual because the contentious issue of congestion charging was on the agenda. 

"Yes, it’s true all ten council leaders travelled by car which was picked up by the local paper.  They ran this as a front page headline and I had to explain that because of poor public transport I travelled by car.  That just illustrated my point though – public transport needs to be improved before congestion charging comes in.  That is why at my meeting with Councillor Brian Millard, the Lib Dem Leader of Stockport Council, we agreed to that four key tests need to be met – they are:

1. Significant investment in public transport.
2. Congestion charging must not undermine the competitiveness of Town Centres including Heywood, Middleton, Pennines and Rochdale.
3. The businesses in the Borough must be on board.
4. That any congestion charging must be relevant to where congestion actually is.

"We forced the AGMA Leaders to accept this and wait with baited breath the next developments. 

"I will also be chasing to see what benefit there is for the whole Borough.  It is vital that this Borough benefits from any congestion charge, there have been improvements but this needs to be stepped up."

Conservative Councillor Ian Duckworth refused to accept Councillor Taylor's explanation as valid explaining: "On the Friday Alan Taylor was going by car to Bury I was travelling to meet the Shadow Transport Minister in Manchester, by train!

"Today (Monday 29 January) I was in London at a very important conference on the future of buses. The GMPTA was represented by myself and Labour Councillor Allen Brett, the Lib Dems failed to turn up."