GMB Demands Rethink on City Congestion Zone
The proposal to implement a congestion charge around Cambridge has been met with heavy criticism from one of Britain’s largest trade unions.
GMB, which represents over half a million workers, has announced it opposes the Greater Cambridge Partnership’s (GCP) plan to create a ‘Sustainable Travel Zone’ for private vehicles coming into the city.
The plan, which will cost road users £5 per day to enter the city between 7am and 7pm on weekdays, has been branded a tax on key workers by GMB London.
At the weekend hundreds gathered on Parker’s Piece to demonstrate their opposition to the proposed charge, with the Cambridgeshire Residents Group alongside Mill Road Traders Association organising the protest calling on the suggested charge to be dropped.
Under the plans, GCP would use the additional funding for bus routes, including orbital routes, and for more regular services. However, GMB has accused local politicians of failing to invest in transport before considering a charge, and of putting a wall between those that can afford to live in Cambridge and those who cannot.
Gordon White, GMB London Region Organiser said:
“Thousands of people make the daily commute into Cambridge to service the city. These key workers are support staff in our schools, work cleaning and cooking in colleges, look after the sick in Addenbrooke’s and populate almost all of the service industries in Cambridge. These people are the cogs on which this city runs.
“Even before the cost of living crisis, most of these people would struggle to ever afford to live in the city. So, it is incredibly disappointing to see a new tax on some of the lowest paid. It is also extremely naïve to assume everyone can hop on a bike and do a day of manual work having cycled in from outer Cambridgeshire.
“The Cambridge GMB Branch has called for a rethink of the policy, which is designed to put a wall between the haves and the have-nots of the city. Its implementation will entrench rural poverty further, where many of the buses they are proposing to introduce are only covering provisions previously cut in recent years. It is all smoke and mirrors. It could only be thought up by people who have never done a manual job in their lives and shows a political class out of touch with anyone who isn’t in a well-paid office job or lucky enough to be able to cycle a short distance to a lecture hall."
For more information and interviews please contact: Gordon White, GMB London Region Organiser 075 8305 0973
GMB London Region Press Office 079 7001 9643 / London.press@gmb.org.uk
