Ken: Heathrow is next congestion target

Congestion charging will be quickly brought in around Heathrow if the central London scheme is a success, the Mayor said today.

Ken Livingstone also revealed he would begin negotiating with Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Tower Hamlets councils next summer to expand the zone if it is working.

Congestion charging is due to be introduced in central London from 17 February next year, with the aim of reducing traffic by up to 15 per cent. Motorists will be charged £5 a day to enter the zone. Its present boundaries include Park Lane, Euston Road, City Road and Kennington Lane.

Mr Livingstone came under pressure today during a committee meeting at the London Assembly to reveal his plans to extend the scheme.

Responding to questioning from Conservative Assembly member Tony Arbour, Mr Livingstone said: "If congestion charging works my proposal would be that we'd look rapidly at a congestion charge round Heathrow which is relatively easy to do because of the small number of roads affected.

"I would also be in consultation with Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Tower Hamlets about extending the zone eastwards and westwards."

However, the Mayor indicated that the zone would not grow beyond the area between Kensington and Tower Hamlets. But he added: "If there was local support for a zone around Croydon or Harrow I would be happy to co-operate with the boroughs bringing that in."

Mr Livingstone said he had no other proposals "beyond the lifetime of the London plan", the blueprint for London's expansion over the next 15 years. Mr Livingstone's comments today came at a meeting of an Assembly committee examining the London plan. The proposal for a widened zone is likely to be controversial, especially in Westminster, which lost a court bid to block the scheme.

Mr Arbour, who represents Hounslow on the Assembly, said: "The people who live close to the airport have all its terrible environmental pollution and aircraft to put up with. They fear that users of the airport won't want to pay the congestion charge and they will park around the airport."

Mr Livingstone wants to encourage people using the airport, which has 68 million passengers a year, to use public transport. Mr Arbour also revealed that deputy mayor Nicky Gavron formerly wanted a London-wide congestion zone by 2008.

According to documents read out by Mr Arbour, Miss Gavron - who aims to challenge Mr Livingstone for the post of Mayor - envisaged a cordon around the inner ring road, the north and south circular roads and also the Greater London boundaries being introduced in the years 2003 to 2008.

These figures were contained in a document entitled Developing Road Traffic Targets in London. However Miss Gavron said that the situation had changed since the document was published in 1999.