Manchester second only to London for congestion

Manchester suffers the worst congestion of anywhere in England outside London, research has found.

Liverpool is next, followed by Birmingham, Portsmouth and Southampton and then Nottingham, the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) said.

The analysis compared the ease of driving from one part of a city or area to another at peak and off-peak times.

Sir John Armitt, NIC chairman, said: “From Manchester to Bournemouth our cities are facing gridlock – creating misery for people trying to get from A to B. Trying to tackle this from London won’t work. We need to develop local solutions.”