Greater Manchester Says No Thanks to Clean Air

by Christine McLaughlin

The results are in and the residents of Greater Manchester have voted against the TIF proposals. I’m disappointed that we won’t be enjoying the benefits of improved public transport, but I’m not surprised.

Most people used their vote as a protest against what they saw as an additional tax. Like the taxi driver at the Trafford Centre I spoke to who told me he would be crippled financially by having to pay £5 on every single cab fare. Except taxi drivers would have been exempt from the proposed congestion charge, as I’m sure he knew – he just didn’t expect me to know it.

It seems to me that the real problem was that the No voters were absolutely passionate in their resistance to the proposals. There was no way they weren’t going to get their votes in on time even if they’d had to ram-raid the Sorting Office in their Land Rovers to do it.

Although the Yes Campaign, Go! Manchester and Clean Air Now conducted a well organised and dynamic campaign in favour of the proposals, the potential Yes voters were less fervent about the whole thing. They appreciated the benefits of better public transport, cleaner air, and reduced congestion, but they didn’t enter into the debate with the fanatical zealotry of the No campaigners and therefore were much less motivated to vote. Some of the public transport commuters were probably so exhausted by their slow, crowded, uncomfortable journeys that they just couldn’t be bothered to get to the post box.

One positive is, of course, that the most vociferous No campaigners can now refocus on their other campaigns: protesting against human rights violations across the world, perhaps, or raising awareness about climate change. Many of them will be keen to do what they can to ease the crisis in Darfur or possibly giving up their time to some of the thousands of people who are homeless this Christmas. Either that or they might just drive to MacDonalds in their massive gas guzzlers, before dropping by Asda to pick up some meat and plastic, fresh from the sweat shop, laughing all the way at the plebs in bus stops.

On a positive note the referendum has made a lot of people think more about traffic, transport and pollution. Across Greater Manchester, 218,860 people voted yes.Trafford had the highest turnout of all the boroughs (63.6%) and 20,445 people voted yes to the proposals. That’s over 20,000 people who emphatically want better public transport, cleaner air and reduced congestion on the roads. The referendum is over but the campaign for a better future continues and it’s growing in support.