The petition for started by Peter Roberts ended at midnight, and predictability there was a response from the Prime Minister Tony Blair immediately, this will be sent to all of the petitioners, over 1.7 million people, so while they patiently wait for the email to pop into their in box, you can read the full reply below.
Needless to say the response is predictable and of course is only the beginning of the process, and no decisions have been made yet, as if 1.7 million people against these plans was not an indication enough, there has been a recent ICM survey commissioned by the BBC, the question was;
“Do you think the government should or should not introduce a system for charging motorists by the mile, during busy periods, to cut congestion?”
The response was as follows;
Should Not – 74 %.
Should – 23 %.
Don’t Know – 3 %.
What more can the politicians want? Granted that the survey is only made up of a random 1006 people, but the figures are always high and always against.
One thing is for sure, the cause must not be just left now, it needs to continue now the momentum has begun, more petitions and more questions need to be addressed to the government, otherwise who knows what will happen in the future.
Tony Blair’s, email response to the Petition regarding road charging.
“Thank you for taking the time to register your views about road pricing on the Downing Street website.
This petition was posted shortly before we published the Eddington Study, an independent review of Britain’s transport network.
This study set out long-term challenges and options for our transport network.
It made clear that congestion is a major problem to which there is no easy answer.
One aspect of the study was highlighting how road pricing could provide a solution to these problems and that advances in technology put these plans within our reach.
Of course it would be 10 years or more before any national scheme was technologically, never mind politically, feasible.
That is the backdrop to this issue. As my response makes clear, this is not about imposing “stealth taxes” or introducing “Big Brother” surveillance.
This is a complex subject, which cannot be resolved without a thorough investigation of all the options, combined with a full and frank debate about the choices we face at a local and national level.
That’s why I hope this detailed response will address your concerns and set out how we intend to take this issue forward. I see this e-mail as the beginning, not the end of the debate, and the links below provide an opportunity for you to take it further.
But let me be clear straight away: we have not made any decision about national road pricing. Indeed we are simply not yet in a position to do so.
We are, for now, working with some local authorities that are interested in establishing local schemes to help address local congestion problems.
Pricing is not being forced on any area, but any schemes would teach us more about how road pricing would work and inform decisions on a national scheme.
And funds raised from these local schemes will be used to improve transport in those areas.
One thing I suspect we can all agree is that congestion is bad. It’s bad for business because it disrupts the delivery of goods and services.
It affects people’s quality of life. And it is bad for the environment. That is why tackling congestion is a key priority for any government.
Congestion is predicted to increase by 25% by 2015. This is being driven by economic prosperity. There are six million more vehicles on the road now than in 1997, and predictions are that this trend will continue.
Part of the solution is to improve public transport, and to make the most of the existing road network.
We have more than doubled investment since 1997, spending £2.5bn this year on buses and over £4bn on trains - helping to explain why more people are using them than for decades.
And we’re committed to sustaining this investment, with over £140bn of investment planned between now and 2015.
We’re also putting a great deal of effort into improving traffic flows - for example, over 1,000 Highways Agency traffic officers now help to keep motorway traffic moving.
But all the evidence shows that improving public transport and tackling traffic bottlenecks will not by themselves prevent congestion getting worse.
So we have a difficult choice to make about how we tackle the expected increase in congestion.
This is a challenge that all political leaders have to face up to, and not just in the UK. For example, road-pricing schemes are already in operation in Italy, Norway and Singapore, and others, such as the Netherlands, are developing schemes.
Towns and cities across the world are looking at road pricing as a means of addressing congestion.
One option would be to allow congestion to grow unchecked. Given the forecast growth in traffic, doing nothing would mean that journeys within and between cities would take longer, and be less reliable.
I think that would be bad for businesses, individuals and the environment. And the costs on us all will be real - congestion could cost an extra £22bn in wasted time in England by 2025, of which £10bn to £12bn would be the direct cost on businesses.
A second option would be to try to build our way out of congestion. We could, of course, add new lanes to our motorways, widen roads in our congested city centres, and build new routes across the countryside.
Certainly in some places new capacity will be part of the story.
That is why we are widening the M25, M1 and M62. But I think people agree that we cannot simply build more and more roads, particularly when the evidence suggests that traffic quickly grows to fill any new capacity.
Tackling congestion in this way would also be extremely costly, requiring substantial sums to be diverted from other services such as education and health, or increases in taxes. If I tell you that one mile of new motorway costs as much as £30m, you’ll have an idea of the sums this approach would entail.
That is why I believe that at least we need to explore the contribution road pricing can make to tackling congestion. It would not be in anyone’s interests, especially those of motorists, to slam the door shut on road pricing without exploring it further.
It has been calculated that a national scheme - as part of a wider package of measures - could cut congestion significantly through small changes in our overall travel patterns.
But any technology used would have to give definite guarantees about privacy being protected - as it should be.
Existing technologies, such as mobile phones and pay-as-you-drive insurance schemes, may well be able to play a role here, by ensuring that the government doesn’t hold information about where vehicles have been.
But there may also be opportunities presented by developments in new technology.
Just as new medical technology is changing the NHS, so there will be changes in the transport sector. Our aim is to relieve traffic jams, not create a “Big Brother” society.
I know many people’s biggest worry about road pricing is that it will be a “stealth tax” on motorists. It won’t. Road pricing is about tackling congestion.
Clearly if we decided to move towards a system of national road pricing, there could be a case for moving away from the current system of motoring taxation. This could mean that those who use their car less, or can travel at less congested times, in less congested areas, for example in rural areas, would benefit from lower motoring costs overall.
Those who travel longer distances at peak times and in more congested areas would pay more.
But those are decisions for the future. At this stage, when no firm decision has been taken as to whether we will move towards a national scheme, stories about possible costs are simply not credible, since they depend on so many variables yet to be investigated, never mind decided.
Before we take any decisions about a national pricing scheme, we know that we have to have a system that works. A system that respects our privacy as individuals. A system that is fair.
I fully accept that we don’t have all the answers yet. That is why we are not rushing headlong into a national road-pricing scheme.
Before we take any decisions there would be further consultations. The public will, of course, have their say, as will Parliament.
We want to continue this debate, so that we can build a consensus around the best way to reduce congestion, protect the environment and support our businesses.
If you want to find out more, please visit the attached links to more detailed information, and which also give opportunities to engage in further debate.
Yours sincerely,
Tony Blair.”
Reigning world champions will boost their chances of retaining the 2007 title by entering a massive six cars in this years FIA GT World Championship, the first race will be held in China at the Zuhai circuit which is the only purpose built track in China, and the season starts on the 25th March.
After three intensive test sessions, the management of Team Peugeot have announced their driver line up for the 2007 Le Mans series and of course the jewel in the crown, the 2007 Le Mans 24 hours race.
As normal there is a good F1 presence within the Le Man series paddock, which just goes to show how competitive it is to get into a team and stay there. But there are only four places up for grabs, the drivers will need to show the team managers, Serge Saulnier (Team Manager) and Michel Barge (Peugeot Sport Director) who will be the best choice for the places, this does not necessarily mean who is the fastest, this sector of motor sport relies more on team work than in single seater racing, so there are many factors in decided the final selection.
The car that the team will be using is the Peugeot 908 Hdi FAP, which is a completely new car, engine, gearbox, and chassis. The engine is a V12 and initially was supposed to deliver around 700 BHP, reading between to lines, it appears that the Peugeot engineers have yet to achieve this.
