Boris Johnson must get this road charge right charging

12 April 2012

There is, in principle, everything to be said for a congestion charging system that targets users of London's busiest roads at the busiest times.

This paper has said that such a scheme would be preferable to the inflexibility of the congestion charge.

So the Mayor's proposal for charging around £1 per mile for using the busiest roads has much to recommend it in principle, not least that it would raise funds for Transport for London's improvements to public transport.

But to impose a system of flexible charging in addition to the congestion charge would be another matter. It would be confusing to have two separate systems running in tandem.

Drivers could be charged where they travelled on busy roads outside the central congestion charge area and again within the zone.

It is not yet clear whether some of the busiest roads that would attract a levy would be within the congestion charge zone. A flexible system would have to be an alternative to the existing charge.

At present it is undoubtedly true that some of the busiest roads in London are outside the existing charge area - the Fulham Palace Road or the Edgware Road or even areas outside central London, such as Croydon town centre.

A charge for the busiest thoroughfares would return to the original point of the congestion charge: to enable traffic to move freely. It would also be fairer on business.

But such a radical change would take both sophisticated technology that works and an effective public information campaign.

It would also need a popular mandate, which is what Ken Livingstone got when he introduced the original congestion charge. This is a bold idea which may well merit a place in the Mayor's next election manifesto.

Why MPs should pay

Hundreds of the MPs returning to Westminster today after their 82-day recess will have to deal with a letter from Sir Thomas Legg, a senior civil servant, requiring them to repay some expenses they claimed made since 2004.

Some say they will refuse, even though the Prime Minister has said they should pay up.

In some cases, MPs may have a point. If Sir Thomas is asking them to repay expenses that were explicitly approved by the Commons authorities then they can argue - as they have already done - that the fault lay with the officials who sanctioned their claims.

But even when the amounts MPs claimed was within the rules, they should have realised that their claims looked excessive: did they really think that claims of thousands of pounds a year for gardening would look reasonable to their constituents?

Others simply cheated the system, for instance where they have claimed for the capital costs of their mortgage, not just interest payments.

As to the practice of flipping, or changing the designation of their primary home to maximise their allowances, it may have been sanctioned but it was patently unjustified.

Before MPs get too exercised about this perceived injustice, they might like to think just how this will play with the public.

The expenses scandal did them untold damage; do they really want to bring it up again?

Market values

Following a campaign by this newspaper ministers are to set up an official body to champion the interests of street markets, long under siege from supermarkets.

Nowhere will this be more welcome than in London, where some of the most vibrant street life is to be found in traditional markets.

Stallholders have long battled against the congestion charge, parking costs and lifeless shopping malls: it's time their interests were protected.

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