Well, well. After months of heated speculation, it turns out that Cambridgeshire County Council is shelving its plans for congestion charging in the city.

Cambridgeshire CC has shelved plans for congestion charging following a lack of local support

The council had said it wanted to cut traffic levels in the city by 10% and submitted a bid for £500m of the government’s Transport Innovation Fund (TIF). Its bid included proposals for peak period congestion charging in and around Cambridge, along with subsidising bus fares, a new railway station, park and ride facilities and an extensive network of cycle paths.

Cambridgeshire has now withdrawn its plans and gone “back to the drawing board”, despite a growing problem of congestion in and around the city of Cambridge.

Councillor Jill Tuck, the new Conservative leader of the council, said: “We have listened carefully over the last few months and it is clear that the Transport Innovation Fund scheme we put forward for consultation last autumn does not have sufficient support either from other key organisations or the public and needs, at the very least, refinement.”

A new transport commission, made up of key public and private sector organisations, will be created to come up with recommendations for a new transport strategy for the Cambridge area…