I HAVE just had the AGMA, GMPTA Congestion Charging leaflet delivered through my door.

The first thing I noticed is that the leaders' of Greater Manchester's ten councils have put together this bid.

Who does the term leader' refer to from Bury Council?

The leaflet gives congestion and pollution of the environment as the reasons for introducing the charges.

Haven't these ten councils contributed towards congestion and pollution by slowly turning two-lane highways into one?

The ten Greater Manchester Councils also have a sideline collectively known as the Manchester Airports Group who own Manchester International, (Nottingham) East Midlands, Bournemouth International and the smaller Humberside International Airports. M.A.G. boasts it is proud to be publicly owned and privately managed and is the largest British owned airport operator, handling over 28 million passengers every year.

This total is expected to rise to 42 million passengers by 2015 from their own website figures. With cargo on top. Manchester is also expected to become this country's second busiest airport within the next 15 years.

Humberside International serves general and commercial aircraft facilities. As well as being a passenger carrier, East Midlands is the second largest UK freight airport - based on UKCAA statistics. M.A.G. are to invest £32million in the re-development of Bournemouth Airport starting this year.

Politicans say they want to cut emissions but the UK's share of international aviation is not included, nor does it look likely to be.

In reality the government is looking to expand UK airports. M.A.G. Council bosses dismissed out of hand the selling of Manchester Airport because they say it could send council tax bills rocketing and harm the region's economy.

The ten Councils of Manchester Airports Group who profit from travel and pollution to the evironment want to mug car users across Greater Manchester by introducing congestion charging.

They conveniently forget the harm to health air travel causes and that it is one of biggest, if not the biggest, contributor to climate change and global warming, much greater than cars.

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