M6 Toll managers have been summoned to Parliament to defend the road's performance before a committee of MPs. They will be quizzed at a hearing tomorrow following claims the creation of the M6 Toll, north of Birmingham, has actually increased congestion on the motorway it was designed to unclog. The 27-mile toll road was supposed to reduce the number of vehicles on the original M6 motorway, which is free to use, but traffic has gone up instead. However, both the Government and the Conservative opposition have judged the M6 Toll to be a success, and based their transport policies around building more toll roads across the country. The Commons Transport Committee, chaired by senior MP Gwyneth Dunwoody, will hear evidence from executives including Tom Fanning, chief of Midland Expressway Ltd, which operates the toll road. And it will quiz Alistair Darling, the Transport Secretary, about the Government's plans to build a new 50-mile toll motorway linking the Midlands with the North-west. The M6 Expressway will run from Cannock to Cheshire. It has been proposed by the Department for Transport as an alternative to widening the existing M6. The debate over whether the M6 Toll has been a success or not is crucial to the development of transport policy in Britain, because supporters of charging schemes see it as a role model to be copied. One of the main benefits for Governments, is that toll roads bring in private money to pay for construction in return for the right to charge motorists to use them, saving the county's taxpayers a fortune. The £485 million cost of the M6 Toll was met by Midland Expressway Ltd, part of the Australian-based Macquarie Infrastructure Group. However, new figures have revealed that since the toll motorway opened, nearby junctions of the M6 have seen weekday traffic rise by 15,000 vehicles a day. They suggest that building more roads has simply led to more traffic. Environmentalist groups such as the Campaign to Protect Rural England have bitterly opposed the proposed M6 Expressway, claiming it would only attract more traffic. Some MPs, including Stafford MP David Kidney (Lab), have also attacked it. The transport committee is also investigating congestion charging, lorry road user charging and parking levies, as part of a wide-ranging inquiry into road pricing. Mr Darling has named Birmingham as one of eight cities he hopes will follow London's example and introduce congestion charging. Regional planning guidance for the West Midlands, published by his department, said: "Local authorities should be encouraged to bring forward local cordon charging schemes in the more congested city centres, such as Birmingham, before 2011." | 
