TRAFFIC LEVELS IN KENSINGTON &CHELSEA DROP SIX YEARS IN A ROW

12.02.03pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 25th Jul 2005

The London Assembly Liberal Democrats have today revealed new figures that blow a hole in the argument put forward by Mayor Livingstone that the Congestion Charge should be expanded into Kensington & Chelsea.

The figures, uncovered by the Lib Dems, show that there has been a drop of 11 million miles driven in Kensington and Chelsea in the last six years.

The figures show that in 1999, 372 million miles were driven in K&C. By 2004, this had dropped to 361 million - a drop of 3%. There has been no increase in traffic levels in Kensington and Chelsea since 1998.

London Assembly Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesperson, Geoff Pope, said:-

"These new figures have blown a massive hole in the Mayor's argument as to why the Congestion Charge should be expanded into Kensington and Chelsea.

"When the Mayor gives his reasons for expanding the Congestion Charge into Kensington and Chelsea he fails to mention that traffic levels have already been declining year on year for the last six years.

"The Mayor should be shouting from the rafters just how successful his government has been in reducing traffic in Kensington and Chelsea. Instead he has kept silent in the hope that people will think that the expansion into K&C is needed when all the evidence shows it clearly is not.

"This extension of the zone into Kensington and Chelsea flies in the face of common sense with many experts believing that the Mayor will do well to break even with this ill-conceived scheme.

"It is time for the Mayor to come clean with Londoners about his reasons for expanding the C-Charge zone into K&C."

ENDS

Notes to editor

Figures released by the Department for Transport on 7th July 2005 on regional traffic growth show that road traffic has increased by 11% since 1997 (Road Traffic Statistics for Local Authorities: 1994-2004) but in Kensington and Chelsea has declined by 3%.

NUMBER OF VEHICLE MILES IN KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA 1997 - 2004 ('000,000)

Local Authority 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Kensington and Chelsea 372 367 366 366 362 361

These figures and more can be found at:-

http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_transstats/documents/page/dft_transstats_032740.xls