Sian Berry Comments on Road Pricing Scheme

"I welcome the news that Rishi Sunak is considering action to create smart incentives to reduce growing traffic. I have been pushing for years for London to introduce a smart, fair road pricing scheme to replace the blunt daily congestion charge.

“This could be done well or very badly and the Government’s recent record on delivering new initiatives really concerns me.

“One major issue is that one size will not fit all, so we must ensure that local areas have control over the smart levers and share in the revenue. Unless the process is devolved there is a very real threat that all the funds would go to the treasury. Every penny raised must go to cities and regions so they can improve and invest in public transport and alternatives to driving, and help reduce the need to travel too with more public services within easy reach.

“And for a smart road pricing scheme to work, privacy must be baked in from the start. This means not collecting any more data than is needed, not relying on promises that our privacy will be protected which will erode over time.

“Above all, the Government should not be making traffic worse, which is another reason Grant Shapps giving the go ahead for the Stonehenge road tunnel last week was the wrong decision. We are in a climate and ecological emergency and should be investing in alternatives to driving. The £27 billion road-building budget is the right source for funding this, and all major road-building schemes should be cancelled now.”