'No' for Manchester charge scheme
Updated on 12 December 2008
Voters in Manchester reject plans for Britain's biggest road-charging zone.
The Greater Manchester scheme was rejected in all 10 boroughs involved in the referendum, in which more than 1,033,000 people voted, a turnout of 53.2 per cent.
The plans needed a majority in favour in at least seven local authority districts to get the go-ahead.
The results is a fatal blow for the scheme, which would have charged drivers up to £5 a day to use the region's roads in the 80-square-mile area within the M60 orbital motorway.
It also casts doubt over the future of any further plans to introduce similar charging schemes elsewhere in the country.
