BURY Council has paid almost £170,000 to foot its share of the congestion charge bill.

More than £2.2 million was spent on holding the public referendum in December and the cost has been split between the 10 Greater Manchester authorities according to their population.

Bury paid £131,079 directly to the Electoral Reform Services for producing, distributing, and counting postal votes.

The council was charged a further £37,771 towards other central costs, such as wages for returning officer Sir Neil McIntosh and his staff, the hire of Manchester Central for the count, and the publicity.

With an electorate of 140,441, the bill is the equivalent of £1.20 for every person.

Bury’s share is the smallest of all 10 members of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA), with the largest bill — £365,039 — given to Manchester City Council.

Councillor Bob Bibby, leader of Bury Council, said: “Referendums and democracy always have a cost associated with them but, in this particular case, it has proved what most authorities across Greater Manchester knew already, and that is that congestion charging is another means of taxation. The results let me go to AGMA to voice and vote in the direction of the people of Bury and to that means the cost implication was justified.”

But Prestwich resident Geoffrey Berg, a prominent campaigner against the congestion charge, said: “It certainly should not have cost as much as this. An inquiry should be held into how such a large amount of money could be spent on something that 79 per cent of people did not want.

“It would have been better to carry out consultation earlier or for the referendum to be held at the same time as the local elections in May. That would have saved a lot of money.”

The overall bill for the failed Transport Innovation Fund bid, which was overwhelmingly rejected by the referendum in December, is more than £24million.

If accepted, it would have seen the introduction of a £5 peak-time congestion charge in Greater Manchester, in return for a £2.7 billion investment in public transport.

The leaders of all 10 Greater Manchester councils met on Friday to look at other ways of funding public transport improvements.

But proposals to increase business rates and charge firms which have city centre car parking spaces for staff were rejected.