No support for city congestion charge, says council leader

A congestion charge scheme has been dismissed by the leader of Newport city council, who said his administration is “not anti-motorist”.

Dimitri Batrouni said he “will oppose” any proposals to charge motorists to drive in Newport – but insisted the city must also receive the public transport upgrades it was “promised”.

No concrete plans for any charging schemes have been put forward, but national policy-makers have already explored how various road taxes could be implemented in the future.

Road-user charging – also labelled a pay-per-mile scheme – was explored and then discounted by the previous Conservative-led UK government in 2023.

Conversation

The conversation at that level focused on how the Treasury could avoid losing the reported £35 billion it collects each year, on fuel and other duties, when petrol and diesel cars are replaced with electric vehicles.

In Wales, the Welsh Government published an independent review of road-user charging and workplace-parking levies in 2020, which focused mainly on the environmental benefits.

Although neither government has pursued such schemes nationally, a Newport councillor claimed this week that the tide seemed to be turning against the motorist.

Cllr Matthew Evans, who leads the Conservative opposition group, railed against decisions to scrap the M4 relief road, lower the nation’s default speed limit to 20mph, and invest millions in active travel projects which he claimed had not borne results.

He said the council leader should oppose “any other attempts to cause disruption to our already stretched city network”.

Free parking

Cllr Batrouni said Newport City Council “is not anti-motorist” and had just announced a free car parking scheme on Saturdays over Christmas.

He repeated his support for the investment in public transport that was recommended by the South East Wales Transport Commission – also known as the Burns Commission – in 2020, which was later endorsed by the Welsh Government.

“We are all crystal clear on this,” Cllr Batrouni said. “We were promised [the investment], the city deserves it, the city is feeling the pressure.”

An annual report on the progress of the Burns Commission’s various projects has still not been published for 2024, despite several requests by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, stretching back to the beginning of the year.