YORK’S transport chief has launched a blistering attack on congestion charges – saying they would leave the city’s tourism economy at the mercy of its rivals.

Thousands of households have the chance to air their views on York adopting a London-style toll which would force motorists to pay to bring their vehicles into the heart of the city.

Coun Steve Galloway, City of York Council’s executive member for city strategy, has branded congestion charging “bizarre” and “hugely damaging” and says it carries the threat of “running down the city centre”.

The tax is among the issues being discussed in a public consultation exercise after the council predicted the volume of traffic in the city would grow by 28 per cent over the next 11 years.

Coun Galloway said: “The idea of introducing a local congestion charge has been considered on several occasions by the council over the years and has been rejected.

“The Liberal Democrat group believes the elaborate and expensive mechanisms needed to introduce such a system are unnecessary and would be ineffective and potentially hugely damaging to our visitor economy.

“One of the difficulties with such a system is that the more successful it is in discouraging people from driving into the charging zone, the less income is available for investment in alternative transport modes. York doesn’t have the advantage of an underground system, so comparisons with London are irrelevant.

“Local congestion charging simply pits one city against another, with the loser risking gambling away prosperity which may have been hard-won over many decades.”

The consultation was the brainchild of the council’s all-party traffic congestion scrutiny committee, but Coun Galloway said: “The committee has taken over three years to reach the point where it has floated a project which has been discredited and rejected through the ballot box elsewhere in the country.

“Their actions may be encouraging news for residents of our competitor cities, whether they be in Leeds or Lincoln, but it is a kick in the teeth for the visitor economy at a time when it is struggling to emerge from the recession.”

He also claimed York’s congestion levels are “no worse now than eight years ago” and said the potential for gridlock had been eased by the city’s Park&Ride network, investment in bus services and a seven per cent rise in cycle use over the last two years.

Potential options in the consultation also include introducing a levy on parking at work, with fees either being charged to employees or covered by businesses.