Drivers would have faced £2 levy

Voters in Edinburgh have voted against plans to levy a London-style congestion charge in the city centre.

Edinburgh City Council was hoping to follow the UK's capital's lead by introducing a pay-to-enter ring at the city centre.

But in postal referendum, the city's voters rejected the proposal.

Some 74 per cent of those who voted rejected the council's plan, which is unlikely to re-emerge.

Drivers would have been forced to pay a £2 fee to enter the city centre at certain times of the day.

The city council said the cash raised would have been spent on a package of transport improvements for the capital.

Businesses in the Scottish city, which also houses the Holyrood parliament, feared they would have been negatively affected by the charge.

Test

Edinburgh's vote was being seen as a test case on whether road user charging would be extended to other cities in the UK.

The no vote will be seen by environmentalists as a blow for the campaign to reduce car use and develop a "polluter pays" culture.

Greenpeace campaigner Mark Strutt said: "Climate change is already having devastating impacts on people's lives and we have to make big reductions in the use of petrol and diesel.

"Discouraging the use of private cars in city centres helps with these reductions as well as making life more pleasant for everyone in the zone.

"It is a great shame that Edinburgh will not now have congestion charging as a tool to do this."

Transport secretary Alistair Darling, who represents an Edinburgh constituency which would have been directly affected by the charge, supported the move.