Road Pricing for London is Coming

THE NEW west London congestion-charge zone comes into operation in a fortnight. Small wonder then that, as we report today, legislation being introduced in parliament allowing for the imposition of tolls on roads is being closely scrutinised for its potential to allow further road-pricing schemes by the Mayor. The Conservatives say that the Supplemental Toll Provisions Bill would give Transport for London the power to make toll orders across all of London. Mr Livingstone denies that this is the intention of the bill, but the very possibility would alarm motorists hard hit by the existing charge and worried about its extension.

Yesterday, we reported that Transport for London, along with Labour-run Greenwich council, is looking at a scheme which could cover the borough and would charge motorists perhaps Pounds 2 a time each way for using the Blackwall Tunnel. Those who have no choice but to commute via that route could pay up to Pounds 1,000 a year. And it raises wider questions.

Greenwich undoubtedly suffers from congestion.

However, such a scheme could send motorists ratrunning through neighbouring areas. And there is no guarantee that traffic speeds will rise for long. That would make the charge an additional cost to residents for no additional benefit. It is likely to be seen simply as a tax grab – and one which was not disclosed by the council ahead of last year’s local elections.

Whitehall funding has been provided for the Greenwich study, which may suggest that this is a test bed for a national road- pricing scheme such as that mooted in the Eddington transport report last December. Other boroughs may now rush to get such schemes in place in the next few years, in the hope that they will later be able hang on to the revenues rather than see them sucked into the Treasury’s coffers via a national programme. That may be wishful thinking.

In any case, few drivers will see the justice of the charge if they think it is simply a new raid on their pockets. Only a clear commitment to recycle the funds raised into local-transport will change this view.

The Mayor must now make it clear that any money raised from a Greenwich/Blackwall Tunnel scheme would be spent on improving transport in the immediate area – and clarify his intentions in respect of road pricing in the capital.

After the Games

THE Olympics stadium will be the centre of the 2012 Games – but what happens to it afterwards?

Tomorrow the board of London 2012 will decide whether to proceed with the design that would enable it to be used as a Premiership football venue. West Ham is said to have made an offer to move into the stadium after the Olympics. The Olympics organisers are unlikely to accept such a bid.

The West Ham proposal would mean building the stadium to allow for its original 80,000 capacity during the Games to be reduced to 65,000 thereafter.

Instead the Board is likely to favour a more modest proposal to build a stadium with a post-Games capacity of 25,000 – and this would become the athletics centre on which Sebastian Coe, the chairman of the organising committe, has set his heart.

But it makes far more sense for a Premiership side like West Ham to take over the stadium. A prominent football club like this would make good regular use of the venue. The club’s new owner, moreover, would be prepared to pay towards the costs of converting the structure and would allow for its use for athletics. West Ham would be a stable, so-called anchor tenant.

The alternative is for the stadium in its smaller form to be used by a small football or rugby club in addition to hosting athletics events and concerts.

But as yet there is no guarantee of any such tenant. The board of London 2012 will make a big mistake if it misses the chance tomorrow of allowing the stadium to become a popular and vibrant football venue after its few short weeks at the heart of the Games are over.

Royal Court roots

THE Royal Court Theatre has played a leading role in championing new British theatre over the past half century – and it is this which makes the debut programme announced today by new artistic director Dominic Cooke all the more exciting. Mr Cooke’s emphasis is on new, edgy plays developed at the theatre by a clutch of young writers including Lucy Caldwell and D C Moore, as well as international work such as new translations of Eugene Ionesco and Max Frisch. This is a welcome return to the Royal Court’s roots, and to the brave and experimental ethos that made it so important to post-war British theatre.

(c) 2007 Evening Standard; London (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.