Mr Rubenstein, Thank you for your comments. With regard to pavements on Bury NEw Road I will ensure your views are passed onto the Prestwich Renewal Commission. On congestion charging I will apply my five point test once a tangible proposal emerges from the current discussions between GMPTA and the Department of Transport.

I am againt any proposal that further increases the tax burden a citizen has to pay. I think that Ivan Lewis's 5 point plan is merely a way of softening the blow. I am aganist he congestion charge proposals for a number of reasons. 1) It falls unduly heavily on the working poor in the community. The rich can pay. 2) I do not think that the transport authitity are capable of creating an integrated transport system. They have already had years to do it but have left us with a shambolic public transport network(one with with no cross ticketing and no service that crosses the city. It has allowed and supported the presence of large numbers of under-utilised buses in places like Oxford Street, while leaving outlying areas barren of of transport by both day and night). 3) It is my belief that the transport Authority know that they are incapable of delivering an attractive system. If there plans were so attractive they would not need to tax people out of their cars, people would flock onto buses and trams without any hesitation. 4) The authority knows it needs a degree of congestion in order to pay back the charges on the government loan. 5) I am not confident that we could trust the transport authorities assurances that a "smart" system will operate. I fear that within an couple of years the time bands will be extended and prices will be put up. 6) i feel that adding a charge, that is in effect a doubling of the council tax and blaming it on congestion, is penalising people who have had little choice in their transport options. It has been planners and politicians who have made the use of a car a daily necessity. It is planners who have approved out-of -town shopping, the closure of local hospitals. if it were not for the actions of citizens our politicians would have closed local schools making the use of cars even more of necessity. 7) i m not convinced that the roads are being used efficiently at present. There are under-utilised empty bus lanes sitting side by side congested "car lanees". I have seen four lane roads be converted to two lane roads for no dicernable reason

The congestion charge is a tax on the poor. IT might make sense for the inner ring road (but then it would not produced enough revenue), but it is ludicrous for the M60 ring. Oppose it Mr Lewis.

The congestion charge would be unfair on the poor & working class freeing up the road for the rich. Rationing car journeys would be muych fairer. The government should invest & improve public transport from funding through the income tax system.

The congestion charge is a tax on jobs. Make public transport, in particular the Metrolink, cheaper top use at rush hour.

The councils tactics are manipulative and untrue, take the recent case studies examples. They can not be trusted. Let the people vote.

Initially,the congestion we talk about today was created by a policy created yesterday called traffic calming.How can a local council, with government backing, create the congestion and then expect the public to pay for it?

Cant we just charge parents taking their kids to school 1 per car? That'd generate about 50 billion quid a year!

" truly integrated and high quality public transport system for Greater Manchester" Must be in place before congestion charge.

I agree with the charge in the city centre as maybe this would encourage people to travell tofether or use public transport to reduce global warming.

As someone who collects grandchildren from a Prestwich school and nursery a couple of days each week I am concerned how charges may impact on me or on my daughter's ability to fulfil her work commitment.

I'm not sure about the charge but i think Ivan's approach sounds good!