It’ll cause hardship

Air pollution in Portsmouth needs to be reduced.

Imposing a congestion charge will do very little to help with this objective, especially when most drivers have very little choice in why they drive.

To reduce pollution it is necessary to reduce the number of vehicles producing the pollution.

Without viable alternative forms of transport, a congestion charge will just cause more hardship to people.

Ideally, all pollutionproducing vehicles would be exchanged for pollution-free vehicles overnight at no cost. This is impossible. Advising drivers to stop using their vehicles and use other less polluting forms of transport only works if some is available and is no more expensive.

I do not see any proposals to increase the number of public transport options and besides, where is the money coming from that will pay for it?

Even if the congestion charge revenue was used, it would not make any significant difference for many months, if not years.

If a congestion charge is imposed it will have a serious effect on the number of people from surrounding areas visiting shops in the city and will result in more business closures. One of the areas of high pollution was specified as London Road in North End. The only way to reduce the levels quickly would be to close the road to all traffic and find ways to divert it around the area. Not an easy task but not much else will work in the timescale required by the government. One last thought – all public transport and council vehicles should be exchanged for pollution free models. Lead by example.