Congestion Charge Public Meeting

Last Thursday evening saw a public meeting take place in Glossop with
regards to the proposed Greater Manchester Congestion Charge.

Although not packed to the rafters as I thought it may have been there was
around 40 people in attendance including a number of councillors from across
Glossopdale and the borough as well as local MP Tom Levitt and County Cllr
Brian Lucas cabinet member for Environmental Services.

The scheme was put forward to us by Roy Newton head of the Greater
Manchester Joint Policy Transport Team and Simon Warburton Team Leader of
the GMPTA (Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority) Policy Team who
started off with a presentation outlining the benefits of the proposal.

The presentation seemed to mainly cover the benefits of the scheme from a
Greater Manchester view aside from a few additions made during the
presentation.

We then moved onto question including a number that had been submitted
before the meeting. The question's covered a good range of issue's around
the scheme particularly around the potential benefits of the scheme for
residents of the High Peak.

One theme that came across in my view at both the public meeting and an
early meeting with officers and members of the sub group was that the
majority of the benefits to the High Peak were either implied and no
definite scheme was yet on paper or would be given further consideration
later with funding support been possibly available from the funding made
available by setting up the charge.

Another element that seemed to show through was a lack of awareness of the
impact that the scheme may have on areas such as the High Peak with a number
of the issue raised been marked for further investigation by officials.

This raises a further concern with the scheme around the cost of officer's
time for these investigations, with any costs from the Greater Manchester
side coming from the 'charge' if agreed but cost for Borough and County
officers caused by this having to be met from existing resources.

The meeting finished with a vote of those present (and willing to take part)
with 5 voting in favor of the scheme and 9 voting against.

The next steps from a local perspective will take place on Thursday when the
sub group will decide its recommendation to the leader of the council, who
will then respond to the consultation on behalf of the council before it
closes on Friday.

In terms of the overall scheme, following the end of the consultation
period, there will be a short period of review before the scheme goes to a
public vote for the residents of Greater Manchester to decide, with all
votes having to be in by the 10th December, with the scheme needing a
majority in favor in 7 out of the 10 Greater Manchester Council Area's.

Congestion charge sub committee

Last Thursday evening saw the latest meeting of the Greater Manchester
Congestion Charge Sub Committee.

The meeting that was scheduled so we could check any details prior to our
meeting with officals from the charge scheme reviewed some additional
information on how many people would be effected and what 'destinations'
they were traveling to across Greater Manchester.

The meeting also reviewed a proposed list of questions that we want to
answers to about the scheme covering areas such as how rail services would
be extended, what support there would be providing additional parking
spaces, any improvements to bus services, ticketing arrangments and
clarifying what exemptions and discounts there would be available.

We also started to look at the arrangements for the public meeting that will
take place at the beginning of October at Glossop's Bradbury House for
getting the views of the public, the issue will also get a mention at the
forthcoming round of area forum meetings which are taking place this month.

Gamesley Station – new feasibility Study

Ant and Dave - Gamesley Station
Originally uploaded by AnthonyMck.

Good news towards the end of last week with the announcement that Derbyshire County Council and the GMPTE are contributing £50,000 to a new feasibility study into Gamesley Station.

The new study which has been announced in the light of Greater Manchester congestion charge debate will examine both the financial and practical case of the station including looking at how an extra stop could be introduced into the timetable for the line.

Full details of how the study will work are not yet known, but if you are contacted with regards to the study please respond to it.

Manchester Congestion Charge

Last Wednesday evening saw the first meeting of the sub committee established by the environment select committee to look at the effect of the proposed Manchester Congestion Charge on the High Peak.

Only myself and New Mills Lib Dem Ray Atkins were in attendance along with a number of officers including Spencer Cooke from the soon to disappear and then reappear as something slightly different (due to a change of funding body) Hope Valley and High Peak Transport Partnership.

We agreed the terms of reference with slight amendments to include the impact of the proposed charge on other policies of the council and bodies the council is involved with such as the SPITS strategy (South Pennine Integrated Transport Strategy) and in particular what effect there will be on parking around local rail stations should there be increased usage following the implementation of the charge.

In terms of how the committee will work I was elected chair and we agreed that when we had sufficient details to consult upon we would (as well as other methods) include opportunities to take views from interested members of the public and other groups.

We did however note that with the forthcoming elections in the Greater Manchester area, although officers have a meeting with various officials from Greater Manchester in early April we probably won’t have any further / more concrete information on the congestion charge to consider until after the local election period towards the middle of June, however if you have any views on what you’ve heard so far about the proposals please let me know.