Earlier this month, the Manchester Evening News reported that a staggering £16m of taxpayers’ money has been spent on planning for the Mottram to Tintwistle by-pass in Tameside. The Highways Agency are on their fifth attempt at getting the scheme through, and it has yet to even pass through a public enquiry which seems to have been kicked into the long grass. The most recent projections put the total cost of the 3.5 mile by-pass, if it ever comes to fruition, at a huge £315m.
Also this month, Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon approved a £165m spend on a relief road between Hazel Grove and Manchester Airport. The total cost to the taxpayer for this project may be in excess of £500m.
So that’s £480m pledged by the Government (with more likely to come) for about ten miles of road – a full third of the total money that Greater Manchester has been offered from the TIF grant.
Now I have no problem with that spending if these projects are the right thing to do, and I have no local knowledge about the benefits or drawbacks of either scheme. The question is – why are the Government prepared to hand over vast sums of money for road-building schemes – no strings attached – but when it comes to handing over similar-sized amounts of money for public transport schemes we have the blackmail element of the introduction of a congestion charge?
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