Friday 19 September 2008

Congestion charge - have your say

Wigan Council’s Cabinet on the 18th September approved arrangements for a referendum on Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) proposals.

The proposed package involves up to £3 billion investment in local transport and the introduction of a weekday, peak-time only congestion charge.

Results in the Greater Manchester-wide all postal referendum will be broken down authority by authority.

Ballot papers will be sent out in late November with a deadline for their return of 10pm on 11 December. Anyone on the electoral register, which is currently being updated, will be eligible to vote.

Each household must complete and return their annual electoral registration forms by Wednesday, November 5 to ensure they are on the updated register.


The Cabinet also welcomed the appointment of Sir Neil McIntosh CBE as returning officer for the referendum across Greater Manchester. Sir Neil served as electoral commissioner for Scotland from 2002 to January this year and played a lead role in overseeing the 1997 Scottish devolution referendum.

He will provide independent scrutiny and supervision of the Transport Innovation Fund referendum.

Wigan Council Leader Lord Smith said: “The size of the public transport investment being proposed and the method of paying for it make this one of the most important decisions for our borough in many years.

“Debate is vital, and that is why we’ve agreed to a county-wide referendum on December 11th. I’d encourage anyone who has not yet returned their registration form to do so as soon as possible so they can have their say.”

For any queries about electoral registration, residents should call Wigan Council’s elections office on 01942 827168 or e-mail elections@wigan.gov.uk

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Transport Innovation Fund are holding two roadshows, this weekend, in Wigan:

Wigan Market Place Saturday 27th September 10am-5pm
Wigan Market Place Sunday 28th September 10:30am-4:30pm

This is to promote the scheme, although, as you can probably guess, I'll be there causing a nuisance and asking what this REALLY will bring for Wiganers (i.e. less buses)!

Anonymous said...

if 9 out of 10 people won't need to pay for the congession charge how is the government going to get back any investment? Will it be nationalised like every else this is a total waste of money with the current credit crunch come on wake up and smell the coffee while you can still afford TO BUY it.