CHARGING BOUNDARIES Manchester City Council Item 6 - Appendix 2 Executive 19 November 2008
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Manchester City Council Item 6 - Appendix 2 Executive 19 November 2008 APPENDIX 2 – CHARGING BOUNDARIES Manchester City Council Item 6 - Appendix 2 Executive 19 November 2008 Contents 1 Purpose of the document............................................................................................................... 1 2 Key Issues ..................................................................................................................................... 2 2.1 Manchester as the Outer Boundary........................................................................................ 2 2.2 Greater Manchester as the Outer Boundary........................................................................... 6 2.3 Charging only if both rings are crossed .................................................................................. 8 3 M60 as the Outer Ring................................................................................................................. 10 3.1 Purpose of this section ......................................................................................................... 10 3.2 Recommended outer ring ..................................................................................................... 10 3.3 Stockport .............................................................................................................................. 12 3.4 Manchester........................................................................................................................... 15 3.5 Trafford ................................................................................................................................. 18 3.6 Salford .................................................................................................................................. 21 3.7 Bury ...................................................................................................................................... 23 3.8 Oldham................................................................................................................................. 25 3.9 Tameside.............................................................................................................................. 28 4 Inner Ring .................................................................................................................................... 31 4.1 Purpose of this section ......................................................................................................... 31 4.2 North East: Cheetham Hill Road to Ashton Old Road........................................................... 33 4.3 South East: Ashton Old Road to Wilmslow Road ................................................................. 35 4.4 South West: Winsford Road to Ordsall Lane ........................................................................ 37 4.5 North West: Ordsall Lane to Cheetham Hill Road................................................................. 40 Manchester City Council Item 6 - Appendix 2 Executive 19 November 2008 1 Purpose of the document The public consultation documents contained a proposed inner ring (with options) and outer ring and invited comments. Comments have been received through discussions with officers at the affected Districts, analysis by Ipsos MORI of the consultation responses, engineering surveys undertaken by Faber Maunsell and communication from key stakeholders. These comments can be categorised into alternative definitions of the outer ring, and comments on the potential outer ring and potential inner ring. This document summarises the comments and presents officer responses. It is structured as: • Section 2 – Key issues. This section examines Manchester as the outer boundary, Greater Manchester as the outer boundary, and charging only if crossing both rings; • Section 3 – The Outer Ring. This section examines comments on the potential M60 outer boundary and recommends an updated route; and • Section 4 – The Inner Ring. This section examines comments on the potential Inner Ring, including the options and recommends an updated route. - 1 - Manchester City Council Item 6 - Appendix 2 Executive 19 November 2008 2 Key Issues This section of the document examines three key issues - Manchester as the outer boundary, Greater Manchester as the outer boundary, and charging only if crossing both rings 2.1 Manchester as the Outer Boundary Context The Minutes of the meeting of the AGMA Executive held on 27 June 2008 state that ‘a report back to the Executive will be made on a review of whether the City boundary should be applied for the outer charging ring’. This section is that report. Overview Figure 1 - shows the potential inner ring (including options) and outer ring (as stated in the July ’08 consultation documents), and the Manchester City Council area. Figure 1 - Potential Inner Ring, Outer Ring and the Manchester City Council Area - 2 - Manchester City Council Item 6 - Appendix 2 Executive 19 November 2008 This proposal would see the outer ring becoming the Manchester City Council boundary, rather than the ‘M60 ring’ currently planned. It should be noted that this proposal would mean that the current inner ring would become inappropriate, as parts of the inner ring (those parts of the inner ring that run through Trafford and Salford) would now fall outside the new outer ring. It is assumed that under this proposal the current inner ring would have to be trimmed so that it lies fully within the Manchester boundary. Impact on integrity of the package The TIF proposals have been based around the concept of a two-ring scheme with the M60 as the outer ring. A key criterion in developing the TIF proposals was to ensure there was ‘strategic fit’ between the charging scheme and the wider transport improvements i.e. ensuring that investments in public transport provide an alternative for drivers who would otherwise pay a charge. Hence the proposed transport improvements focus on those journeys that cross charging rings. For those areas where the charge would no longer apply, it would no longer be possible for the transport improvement schemes to pass DfT’s ‘strategic fit’ test. This would raise doubts around the rationale for a number of currently planned schemes, examples include: • Metrolink to Trafford Park and Ashton-under-Lyne; • Rail capacity and station improvements; • Bus rapid transit routes from Bolton and from Leigh into the Regional Centre; and • Cross city bus elements. Such a major change to the outer ring would have a significant impact on the congestion scheme design and its business case. This would require major redesign and modelling work taking many months. The funding of many of the other TIF schemes within the TIF package is dependent upon the planned congestion charging revenues. As a Manchester-only ring is likely to generate reduced revenues, funding other schemes will become more difficult. The summer consultation process was based around the current ring design. Changing the ring location at this stage would change the package being consulted on so significantly, that a new consultation would be required once the new scheme design had been finalised. AGMA approved the July ’07 bid that was submitted to DfT on the basis of an M60 outer ring design. DfT approved the entry of Greater Manchester’s bid into the TIF Programme in June ’08. Changing the outer ring at this stage would completely undermine DfT’s requirement that “the nature and scope of the Package remains broadly as it is at Programme Entry”. Impact on congestion The proposal that Manchester is the outer boundary is inconsistent with AGMA Test 4 – ‘measures must be relevant to where congestion exists or where it may emerge in the future, notwithstanding the advent of public transport improvements’. The current proposal for a two ring charge, based on charging rings in the vicinity of the M60 and an inner ring performed best against original AGMA’s evaluation criteria, targeting almost 30% of the congestion problem. - 3 - Manchester City Council Item 6 - Appendix 2 Executive 19 November 2008 Reconfiguring the outer ring, with the associated knock-on effect in the inner ring, would be a significant undertaking. There would be a major reduction in the congestion captured as compared to the current proposal. Initial analysis highlights some immediate issues: • The charging scheme would no longer be tackling congestion across as large an area inside the M60 as before. Congestion would continue to increase in those areas that now fall outside both rings; • It would be possible to drive extremely close to the heart of the regional centre without crossing the Manchester-only ring and incurring a charge. The charge would not be targeting congestion where it occurs. For example, a driver could drive to the Salford/Manchester boundary, contributing to some of the worst congestion in Greater Manchester, and yet not pay a charge; and • The smaller outer ring (compared to the M60 proposition) means there is a greater likelihood that journey patterns will change to actually increase congestion in neighbouring councils as drivers seek to avoid the charge. For example, drivers travelling from the west of Greater Manchester to the regional centre could travel through Salford. Impact on finances and complexity The Manchester City Council boundary has substantially more intersections than the M60 and would require additional traffic management works and signing for drivers. This would increase the capital cost of