Cardiff Council has launched a consultation on a new vehicle user charge for the capital. It’s a brave call, and will no doubt draw criticism , but I believe it is the right one for a number of reasons and not least addressing the serious health issues caused by vehicle emissions and the economic damage of road congestion.
The consultation will identify the type of scheme (s) that will be implemented, including a road user payment scheme, congestion zones and workplace parking levies.
The council, which said any charge wouldn’t be introduced until 2027, has moved away from a former position that it should only apply to non Cardiff residents. Such a strategy would have seen its cost falling substantially on people commuting into Cardiff for work and rightly would have been labelled as an unfair ‘Valleys tax’ - a move which could also have unravelled more than a decade of regional collaboration, although not always harmonious, through the Cardiff Capital Region made up of the 10 local authority areas of south east Wales.
Besides, ensuring that Cardiff residents, who should feel the greatest health benefits from reduced emissions, make a contribution, also increases the funding pot generated, which will be ring fenced solely to fund improvements in the city’s public transport offer.
How much per journey the charge will be levied at and how much it will raise annually - minus operational costs - have yet to be determined. While what comes out of the consultation will see twists and turns, it is being positioned as a progressive charge. The youngest and the most disadvantaged in the city, and elsewhere, are the least likely to have car ownership and as a result are more dependent on public transport, which the income generated will be dedicated to improve.
There will be exemptions for the poorest in the city with car ownership too and expect to see certain workers that rely on their cars, like community health workers, also not being charged.
Road transport is currently responsible for 40% of all carbon emissions in the city. The charge is also being positioned as pro-business by seeking to reduce lost productivity caused by congestion. While over time diesel and petrol cars will be phased out, we are years away from the mass take up of electric and hydrogen powered vehicles- from which there are still damaging particles, like from tyres, emitted into the atmosphere.
There are also financial implications for the UK Government which in the future will need to tax vehicles in a different way as its sizeable receipts from diesel and petrol duties reduce. There is an opportunity for any new taxes levied to be raised locally and spent locally - whether that applies to devolution in Wales or as part of measures increasing mayoral powers in large conurbations in England like Great Manchester and the West Midlands.
Around 81% of all journeys in Wales are car based and that needs to be reduced. The charge shouldn't be seen as anti-car, as vehicle journeys will still happen across the city. But to reduce journeys there needs to an integrated public transport network - which is currently far from being the case.
Road charges, under various schemes, most notably in London where Mayor Sadiq Khan is looking to extend the reach of its ultra low emissions zone, already exist in England.
But how much could be raised in Cardiff, after set up and operational costs, to be investment in improving the provision of more public transport across the city? Surely the local authority has run initial projections based on a range of charging models?
Well, leader of Cardiff Council Huw Thomas, alongside his cabinet member for transport, Caro Wild, who have to be commended for taking forward a policy that could have easily just been left in ‘the too hard to do box,’ are currently playing their cards to their chests.
However, the funding could make all the difference in the delivery of next phases of rail’s South Wales Metro project and a turn-up-and-bus network.
The planned first phase extension of the Metro from Cardiff Central Train Station to Pierhead Street could come in at well over the £100m already identified from funding commitments from the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund and the Welsh Government. If the tram-train network is to then reach as far as Newport Road, through the Port of Cardiff, it would require several hundreds of millions more in financing.
The council could, via green bonds or the Treasury’s Public Works Loan Board, bring forward years worth of future charging incomes to provide capital funding for transport projects. Let’s assume it is able to generate - not accounting for inflation - an average of £50m annually over a decade. That could allow it to potentially be able to draw down £500m in capital - although it would be slightly less with securisation financing costs.
However, long-term its Cardiff Crossrail rail vision would require an investment of several billion pounds to deliver in full - including its proposed north-west corridor of a new line running through Creigiau and onto Rhondda Cynon Taf and the creation of a east-west circle line with a connection between the Coryton and City lines.
Cardiff being able to provide finance it would otherwise be hard pressed to find, for a small but sizeable contribution towards Crossrail, could make the difference. However, this would have to be alongside, as a non devolved funding matter, a significant contribution from the UK Government.
While it can point to rail enhancement capital project under investment in Wales stretching back decades from various UK governments, and the fact that it will not get an upside Barnett consequential from the rollout of high speed two, the Welsh Government might have to 'suck it up' and make a capital contribution too, if Cardiff Crossrail is to get off its current vision page.
However, as it stands the £1bn plus South Metro project, the flagship transport project of the Welsh Government, is suboptimal for Cardiff. While electrification will see a significant improvement in the capacity and frequency of services, via new trains and tram-trains, its benefits are mainly north of the city with four trains and hour from the Heads of the Valleys and 24 trains - and in out- at Pontypridd.
For the Metro’s two dedicated lines running through Cardiff - the City and Coryton Lines- when electrification is completed train services will remain at the current two per hour. If the Welsh Government is serious about achieving its net zero carbon emissions target, it needs to ensure at least four trains an hour on both lines - serving communities with the highest population densities across the Metro network and where a turn-up-and-go service would have a far greater impact in reducing car journeys.
The reasons the lines are constrained to two trains per hour are limited capacity through Network Rail’s Cardiff West Junction in Canton and a single-track section on the Coryton branch line.
The council leader, wisely, said that public transport funding from any introduced charge, would be for additional Metro and integrated bus projects. He is right, and the Welsh Government and its transport body Transport for Wales, need to make addressing the current ‘suboptimal’ Cardiff section of the Metro a priority.
The fact that in 2022-23 it used its £150m capital borrowing powers to the full - set by the UK Government- for the first time, needs to happen every financial year from now on - just as the Scottish Government have consistently done.
So, I support - and will have to pay it myself - whatever charging model emerges from the consultation. Yes, it will not please everyone, but if Cardiff is to be taken seriously as a green and vibrant capital to live, work and invest, it has no choice, but to do the right thing.
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