In a previous life I used to lobby the UK government and public for safer roads so I have a slightly higher knowledge of transport policy than the average person in the street.
In light of this I thought I'd respond to a request from Staniforth and Labourhome's, Mark Hanson, who is currently helping campaign for a Manchester congestion charging zone.
The initiative (which has the backing of some noted local residents) goes to a city-wide referendum on December 11th and of it gets the go-ahead could be seen as a template for other major UK cities. Interestingly, I also happen to have an intimate knowledge of Leeds city centre transport which would also benefit for a massive injection of public transport and car reduction.
Mark, it's fair to say, is one of a small number of Labour campaigners taking action in the social media space. Firstly by driving online debate about key issues such as this and then providing grassroots members with a platform for open discussion via Labourhome.
Reflecting this, campaigners for the congestion charge are using a Youtube video to raise awareness of the issue:
To be honest, it isn't the world's greatest video - but it is an importent step in using video-sharing and comment/discussion threads to allow an important issue to be played out.
The opportunities for greater investment in public transport is definitely something which we should be looking at. While the government has made some significant progress towards tackling major transport issues, it looks likely that roads may well be returning to the frontline of the political agenda.
In the pre-budget report announced a couple of weeks ago the government proposed making £700 million available for road construction - most likely in an attempt to drive domestic growth to tackle the economic downturn.
It's a difficult time where short-term economic investment will have to be measured against long-term environmental and social investments. I know which side I would like to see the government prioritising.
Technorati tags: Manchester Congestion Charge, Transport Innovation Fund, Road Safety, Transport
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