CBI does not support Ken's charge

Ken Livingstone's controversial congestion charging plan is the "wrong" one for London - and should be halted now, the CBI demanded today.

The organisation says that it will damage businesses to charge drivers entering central London before wholesale improvements have been made to public transport.

The CBI said it supported the principle of congestion charging but that it could not back the Mayor's chosen scheme.

In a strongly worded formal submission, coinciding with the end of the consultation period into congestion charging today, the CBI said: "Before the charge is introduced there must be a measurable progress in boosting public transport to provide a viable alternative to car use.

'There must be real improvements in bus numbers and reliability, and the foundations must be in place for investment in the Tube."

However, the Mayor's office today insisted improvements had already been made and that more were on the way.

According to the CBI, commercial journeys - including deliveries, freight and servicing - would still have to be made, regardless of congestion charging.

London firms would need to be convinced that they were seeing benefits in waiting, loading and servicing provision from the spending of the charging revenue, now estimated to be £130 million a year.

The CBI said that costs of running the Mayor's scheme were rising and eating into revenue left to be spent on revitalising public transport.

It said that, if the costs were not tackled, a key part of the case for congestion charging would be undermined.