A YORK transport chief today denied there were any plans to introduce congestion charges in the city - but confirmed she and her colleagues were watching their progress in London.

Tracey Simpson-Laing, the executive member for transport on City of York Council, was responding to comments from Vale of York MP Anne McIntosh, who said she feared the Government planned to hit the city with similar charges to those in the capital.

Speculation has risen that the charges could be introduced in other traffic-hit cities across the UK after the London scheme ran relatively smoothly on its first day yesterday.

But Coun Simpson-Laing pledged they would not be brought to York without full public consultation.

She said: "In relation to congestion charging in York, this is not a strategy which we are currently pursuing.

"We will, however, watch the effect of congestion charging in London and elsewhere. We will review the effectiveness of that charging in relation to any potential for York.

"If we were to consider the option of congestion charging in York, we would not do that without full and detailed consultation with residents.

"In 1999 and 2000 City of York Council carried out city wide consultation on proposals for a five-year local transport plan.

"In a leaflet that was sent to every household, York residents were asked whether in order to fund the higher cost option proposed they would want the council to investigate using road user charging to generate additional income to pay for an integrated transport system. There was a small margin in favour of the council doing so.

"York's success in securing much larger Government funding for transport than was anticipated at the time, has enabled the city to fund the transport programme at the levels required to date.

"York has Britain's best Park&Ride service, which keeps 3,000 cars out of the city centre every day and a 100-kilometre cycle network, which enables cycling in York to be five times higher than the British average."

Walking levels were also high, bus services had been improved, and traffic crossing the bridges in the city centre had reduced from 50,700 vehicles per day in 1991 to 44,900 in 2002.

Updated: 10:42 Tuesday, February 18, 2003