Norwich has abandoned plans to introduce a congestion charge after a study revealed that it wouldn’t raise enough money to fund other transport schemes. However, the £500,000 report has strengthened the case for a Norwich Northern Distributor Road (NDR), which would cut city-centre travel time by 16%.

The county and city councils used money from the government’s transport innovation fund to investigate the potential of a congestion charge in the East Anglian city. A feasibility study found that charging vehicles to go inside Norwich’s inner ring road would only produce a “modest” surplus, insufficient for significant investment in other transport projects.

A recommendation from the local authorities will be made in May for no further work to be carried out. It states: “We do not feel we could put together a sufficiently attractive package capable of securing sufficient public support for successful implementation. It is unlikely that we could prepare a satisfactory bid to government for substantive funding.”

Adrian Gunson, cabinet member for planning and transportation, says: “The council always envisaged that an acceptable road-pricing scheme would have to provide funds for significantly improved public transport and to accelerate projects such as the Northern Distributor Road. Pricing people off the city-centre streets without offering attractive alternatives is not what we are trying to achieve.”

Gunson adds: “On its own, the NDR would cut city centre travel time by 16% and distance travelled by 13%, as well as being the only proposal that would taking rat-running traffic out of Thorpe St Andrew, Sprowston, Catton, Hellesdon and other residential areas.”

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