CONGESTION-BUSTING measures which could help to ease traffic gridlock in York are to be discussed at a series of meetings in the city.

Members of the public will be able to attend the informal consultation sessions, which are due to be held at the Guildhall over the next few weeks. Experts who will be speaking at the events will be discussing various mooted methods of tackling traffic problems in and around York, with congestion charging among the issues which will be on the agenda.

They have been arranged as City of York Council's executive submitted a bid for £26.2 million of traffic improvements, including new park&ride sites at Clifton Moor and the A59 at Poppleton and a relocated and enlarged site at Askham Bar, to the Regional Transport Board as the first phase of the Access York scheme.

Transport bosses in the city are also lining up a bid for £5 million-plus of Government cash to upgrade the Hopgrove roundabout and money to dual sections of the outer ring road.

The consultation sessions start on Monday, at 6pm, when Paul Wadsworth, of road-user pricing consultancy Capita Symonds, will explain how road-pricing measures, such as congestion-charging, parking taxes and tolls work.

On Wednesday, February 27, at 5.30pm, council officers will be presented with a briefing paper outlining the pros and cons of the traffic options available to the city, and on Monday, March 10, John Whitelegg, of the University of York's department of biology, will deliver a presentation on the effect of congestion on the quality of life.

To attend the sessions, phone 01904 552063.