By Paul Robinson
LEEDS is vowing to stand firm in the face of any bid by new Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander to impose road tolls on drivers in Britain's biggest cities.
Mr Alexander admits he has made a nationwide congestion charging scheme a "personal priority" – and has already put £10m on offer to companies willing to work on the technology such a system would require.
The minister's comments seem sure to fuel speculation that one of the UK's major provincial cities could soon be asked to act as the country's tolls test case, with traffic-choked Leeds seen as one of the likely candidates for the job.
But today a spokesman for the city council stressed its stance on the subject remained the same as ever – that it will not consider bringing in charges until viable public transport alternatives are in place.
Council leader Mark Harris has also pledged: "One thing I will be making clear to him (Mr Alexander] at the earliest opportunity is that nothing has changed.
"We desperately need an effective public transport system here in Leeds, and we will not even think about a road charging scheme before genuine progress has been made towards tackling congestion in the city."
Suspicions that Leeds was being primed for the introduction of tolls were heightened last year, when the Department for Transport began a small-scale trial of pay-as-you-go equipment on local routes such as the M621, the A61 Wakefield Road and Belle Isle Road.
That pilot project, which involved hundreds of volunteer motorists, is now complete and the roadside gantries and cameras used during it are currently being dismantled.
The theory that Leeds could find itself at the front of the country's charging queue took a knock last year when seven other areas, including Greater Manchester and Bristol, were awarded millions of pounds to look at the feasibility of tolls.
Confirmation of the handouts came just weeks after the Government brought the axe crashing down on the city's proposed Supertram scheme, saying it was not value for money.
The daily fee for driving into the heart of London is £8.
paul.robinsons@ypn.co.uk