Cambridge is set to become the next city to attempt to introduce a congestion charging scheme. It is expected to bid for government funding later this year. A Cambridgeshire County Council spokesman says the authority is likely to bid for £500m from the government's Transport Innovation Fund (TIF), which provides money for road and public transport improvements conditional on the area introducing a road pricing system.
David Webb, joint managing director at Cambridge-based G Webb Transport, says: "We are not against the idea of a congestion charge in principle, but there must be investment in the roads in and around Cambridge. The A14 is a disaster area and my depot is just off the A14. [Truck operators] shouldn't be treated worse than anyone else and in an ideal world, we would like 
any scheme limited just to cars," he says.
Stephen Kelly, head of urban access policy at the FTA, says local road pricing could bring benefits for the freight industry but would have to be preceded by "road infrastructure improvements". Cambridgeshire County Council insists that improvements to the road and public transport infrastructure would be made before road pricing was introduced. "We would prefer to see the money to improve infrastructure first, before any road pricing scheme goes ahead," adds the council spokesman.
Meanwhile, authorities in the west of England, as well as Reading, are also considering road pricing connected to TIF bids. Julia Dean, spokeswoman for the West of England Partnership, says: "If we introduced a congestion charge scheme it would apply to Bristol and Bath town centres, at peak times in the mornings and on weekdays."
In December last year, Manchester's bid for £1.5bn of TIF funds, tied to the introduction of a congestion charge, failed after its plans were rejected by voters. The West Midlands Metropolitan Authorities also gave the thumbs down to a local road-pricing scheme in March 2008.