Road to ruin?

By Adrian Pearson on Apr 15, 09 01:35 PM

John Harrison made it clear when he suggested changing the Tyne Tunnel toll to pay for road upgrades on the A19.He simply has little other choice.

The mayor of North Tyneside knows he will face a big battle to change a regional funding timetable which will not see the Silverlink roundabout upgraded for another decade.
But one question on the minds of many in the region when we broke the story was, does the mayor have a calendar?

In June he is up for election, and some would suggest the mayor has committed political suicide in revealing a plan to raise road charges.

I'm not so sure. It is easy material for his challengers, and not the sort of thing you would imagine being announced by too many other politicians in a similar position, but he can honestly say he has little choice.
When the second Tyne Tunnel opens in a few years the extra traffic it brings along the A19 will make matters worse not better unless the roundabout is upgraded soon.

Mr Harrison certainly wouldn't want toll increases in his manifesto, but if he is re-elected he could feasibly introduce the new charges and claim his victory shows he has public support for this.
When the Tories try and say he is hurting family budgets he can claim everyone knew he had no choice and they signaled their approval via the ballot box.
Genius really.

Or he could have just messed up big time.

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