C-charge to expand

Controversial plans to extend London's congestion charge zone were given the go-ahead by Ken Livingstone today.

Despite opposition from businesses and residents, drivers will have to pay the £5-a-day charge to drive through the west of the capital as well as its centre.

Shopping districts such as the King's Road and Knightsbridge will be included when the zone expands to cover a large swathe of Kensington and Chelsea in 2006.

Mr Livingstone stressed that although he had decided in principle to give the project the green light, he would take on board many of the concerns of the 100,000 people who responded to months of consultation.

Of these, 63 per cent of residents and 72 per cent of firms oppose the plans.

Merrick Cockell, leader of Kensington and Chelsea council, said: "What is the point of a London-wide consultation if Mayor Livingstone chooses to ignore it?"

In the face of such opposition, concessions could be forthcoming.

Among these are further discussions about the precise boundaries of the extended scheme and a promise of discounts for some residents living just out-side the zone. The scheme's hours would change so that it ended at 6pm instead of the current 6.30pm, a key demand of many in the theatre and restaurant trade.

The plans were confirmed today when the Mayor formally published his revised Transport Strategy for the capital.

Transport for London will now work on detailed proposals for an extended zone bounded by Harrow Road, Scrubs Lane, West Cross Route, the Earl's Court oneway system and Chelsea Embankment.

It will include the possibility that the north-western part of the proposed extension, bounded by Harrow Road and Scrubs Lane, will stay out of the zone.

The A40 Westway and Park Lane, although they cut through the extended zone, will both be excluded from the charge, becoming "freeways" through London. After a further round of formal consultation, the scheme would go ahead in late 2006, midway through the Mayor's second term, although that is several months later than Mr Livingstone had initially hoped.

Mr Livingstone said that an extension was "a logical next step" for a project that attracted plaudits all over the world after its introduction last year.

The current zone, which takes in the West End and other parts of central London, cut congestion by 30 per cent and traffic levels by 15 per cent.

Mr Livingstone said that he did not accept critics' claims that his consultation process was flawed, that there were other areas with worse congestion than Kensington and Chelsea or that a long delay assessing the current scheme was needed.

"Prior to the introduction of the existing scheme people were opposed to it, but since its launch there has been a marked increase in acceptance with most people supportive of it," he said.

The Mayor accepted that his draft plans were "too prescriptive" and wanted more discussions to find the right scheme. He said: "The proposal to extend the zone is clearly controversial. Consultations, however, tend to draw responses primarily from those opposed to whatever is being consulted upon.

"That is not to say that those responses have been discounted. They have not." The new scheme will be "single zone" with discountsand exemptions applying across the whole zone. Mr Livingstone said that residents' discounts could be extended for the first time to certain areas outside the zone.

But the Liberal Democrats accused him of "making a major blunder" in extending the zone and of wasting public money, while west London campaigners vowed: "We will continue to fight this." Many retailers and small businesses, together with Torycontrolled Kensington and Chelsea council and residents, have campaigned against a western extension for the past year.

Shops such as Peter Jones in Sloane Square claimed it would cost them huge sums in lost income. Tory Steve Norris made his opposition to the extension a plank of his mayoral campaign.