MOTORWAY, trunk road and local road charging schemes are set to be introduced in Scotland. Although transport policy for Scotland will be determined by the new Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive, the transport white paper for Scotland was issued by Secretary of State for Scotland Donald Dewar separately to the white paper for the UK. Separate documents for Wales and Northern Ireland are to follow.

It is likely that city centre charging will be introduced first in cities such as Edinburgh and Aberdeen with the former expecting to initiate the move in 2005. Under plans for motorway and trunk road charging the first roads likely to be identified could be the M74 northern extension through Glasgow and the M8 upgrading. Edinburgh has already launched a number of innovative schemes designed to reduce traffic congestion and clean up the environment and Glasgow and Aberdeen local authorities have each published their own transport strategies.