18th July:

As regular readers (hello mum!) of this increasingly irregular column will recall, your congenial host and family live in historic Cambridge.

Much has been made round these parts recently of a plan to introduce a London-style congestion charge to Cambridge city centre. Presumably as a method of cutting congestion. Because the town planning department spend all day twiddling their thumbs due to the fact that most of the city centre is at least 3 centuries old and owned by the University. And therefore not likely to be demolished so they can widen the road.

The local hotbed of investigative journalism, The Cambridge Evening News, today reports that 74% of people are against such a congestion charge. Which comes as no surprise given that the greater good usually tends to go out the window when people's wallets are affected. However, I am slightly concerned about this figure of 74%. 74% of what? Or should that be whom? Every good schoolboy is brought up naturally understanding that the value of a poll usually depends on the sample size. It is therefore possible that this 74% could indeed be 37 people out of 50 that were queried. In which case, the poll is neither representative of the population's view nor particularly valid as a research tool.

I'm sure the vast majority of people polled in London prior to the introduction of the congestion charge there were against it. However, London is a density populated, sprawling city and the sheer weight of traffic, both commercial and private, prior to the charge made it impossible and unpleasant to navigate around the centre in a car at any time of day. Whereas in Cambridge, people get stuck in traffic at 8.30am for 25 minutes and lose the head. Oh, and parking in the city centre is hideously expensive. And there is a really good Park and Ride bus service.

There are circumstances where a congestion charge is an appropriate and effective tool in deterring traffic from entering a city centre. However, it is not a panacea, nor a quick-fix, nor a substitute for imaginative thinking on the part of local government. If that isn't already too much of an oxymoron.

London, definitely. New York, possibly. San Paulo and Mexico City, without a doubt.

Cambridge?

Cobblers.