Lagging behind on road pricing

Council leaders in the northern city are believed to be ready to discuss and agree on a bid from a shortlist of options at the end of this week, before putting their decision out to public consultation and submitting the agreed proposal to the Department of Transport by July 31.

But transport chiefs in the West Midlands have not yet even decided whether to give road charging the green light.

The nuts and bolts of the scheme are still being developed. Transport bosses are now asking for Government cash to improve public transport during the next five years to tackle congestion.

Councillor Gwyneth Dunwoody, chairman of the Commons Transport Select Committee, last night warned the region ran the risk of losing out on funds if it allowed others to get first bite at the cherry.

But Geoff Inskip, chief executive of Centro, representing West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority, and David Bull, head of transportation strategy at Birmingham City Council, insisted the region would meet the deadline and was not leaving its public consultation too late by holding it after July.

They added that should a scheme go ahead, it would not be implemented until at least 2012/2013.

Ms Dunwoody said: "You are going to have to move on a bit. Other authorities are not going to wait around while you do your research."

She warned other bids might step in and "grab" the money available first.

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council and also deputy chairman of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, told the committee of cross-party MPs: "We have identified that congestion charging as part of an appropriate package is something we will need to do.

"On top of that we see road pricing as inevitable and if it is inevitable we would rather design a scheme than have one imposed on us."