Road charging plan for county
Motorists in Shropshire could be among the first in Britain to pay congestion charges to try to avoid traffic gridlock, Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander has revealed.
Small schemes - such as Shropshire's County Council's proposal for Shrewsbury - may be up in force in four to five years from now, with larger ones to follow.
Up to £200 million per year will be made available from 2008/09 to support ventures that combine congestion-cutting schemes, including road pricing, with better public transport.
But county transport chiefs have been warned against any moves to introduce discounts locally and penalise visitors with heftier pay-as-you-go charges.
New guidance published by the Department for Transport warns local authorities that discounts - including those to drivers with disabilities who are Blue Badge holders - should be "carefully considered".
Mr Alexander set out the timetable in a Commons written statement. It appears to be yet another rejection of a plea by tens of thousands of motorists to scrap plans to impose pay-as-you-go charges.
More than 900,000 people have signed a petition agai-nst the move started by Peter Roberts, an accounts manager from Telford.
North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson expressed reservations about the proposals. "If they do have it, there has got to be varied pricing," he said.