Darling hit by road-charge row

Alistair Darling has been embroiled in a row over Ken Livingstone's congestion charge on his first day as Transport Secretary.

Mr Darling's home is just inside the central London zone, which drivers will have to pay £5 to enter when the charge starts next February.

While he will pay only 50p to travel inside the zone, his neighbours on the other side of his road, which marks the boundary, will have to pay £5 to make the same journey.

Hundreds of them have now launched a legal challenge in the High Court to have the "unfair" scheme scrapped or redrawn.

Members of the Kennington Association say it will result in gridlock over much of their neighbourhood and turn the road into a "virtual motorway" as drivers divert to avoid the charge.

They say that those on the "wrong" side of the boundary will have to pay more than £1,200 a year to visit friends, schools, hospitals and facilities inside the zone.

Meanwhile, Mr Darling, whose flat is a few hundreds yards inside the zone, will get a 90 per cent discount.

"He will be able to waft in and out almost at will. But he should know his neighbours will be suffering," said Professor Gordon McDougall, spokesman for the Kennington Association. "Apart from the payments, the whole area will be deluged with 20 per cent more traffic and pollution and that certainly will affect Mr Darling.

"We shall be writing to him immediately to request his support over this vital issue. He must be aware of the regeneration that is now going to be irreversibly damaged."

The association fears that parts of Kennington will become impassable with the weight of traffic diverting away from the centre, making it difficult for families to reach their homes or travel to school.

It fears the sheer volume of traffic swirling around the area will damage health and raise noise levels. "It is not just cars and lorries but trucks too and the Transport Secretary will not be immune from the wider effects," said Professor McDougall. "We shall be saying to Mr Darling, You live here too, so you should support your neighbours who are going to suffer and whose homes will fall in value."

However, government officials say that, unless Mr Livingstone submits significantly revised spending plans to the Department of Transport, Mr Darling has no powers to intervene in the scheme.

But residents say he can still press the Mayor to redraw or scrap it.

Today Kate Hoey, MP for Vauxhall, said she would also write to Mr Darling, asking him to intervene.

"I shall ask Mr Darling to look at the plans with a view to asking the Mayor to delay them, until the environmental effects and other factors have been looked at.

"This should give the Kennington Association fresh impetus. His neighbours are, after all, the very ones who will be having to cross this boundary road day after day and pay for the privilege.

"Some won't even be able to drive to see friends or to school without having to pay £5 each time. He is part of that community."

A Department of Transport spokesman said: "It is now just a matter between the Mayor, the courts and the objectors."

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