Road fee charging is on hold
Motorists in the Black Country and Birmingham will not pay congestion charges until at least 2013, Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander has said.
Smaller schemes, such as Shropshire's County Council's proposal for Shrewsbury, could be in force in four to five years.
The announcement appears to be a rejection of a plea by motorists to scrap plans to impose pay-as-you-go charges.
More than 170,000 people have signed a petition against the move.
Meanwhile, official figures reveal that delays on the West Midlands' roads could rise by more than 30 per cent during the next 10 to 20 years.New information released by the Department for Transport predicts traffic jams could increase by 32 per cent by 2015 and 33 per cent by 2025.
And the swelling in traffic congestion would see the region's average vehicle speed of 31mph fall by up to five per cent during the same time-span, according to the data.
Across England, transport chiefs predict delays could rise by 25 per cent by 2015 and 30 per cent by 2025.
The Conservatives today branded the figures unacceptable and say action should be taken.
Shadow transport minister and North Shropshire Tory MP Owen Paterson said: "There has been virtually no increase in capacity under the Government - apart from the M6 Toll.
"Unless they increase capacity or do more to manage demand then conditions will get worse.
"Traffic is growing by 20 per cent, while the road capacity isn't growing at all so it isn't surprising the roads are congested.
"The Government has had 10 years to come up with a solution. It wants to introduce this idea of universal road pricing by 2015, but all the experts say there is no chance they will be able to bring that in by then."
Councils in the Black Country, Birmingham and Shrewsbury have been told to press ahead with charging schemes designed to reduce traffic congestion.
Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander has indicated that he would like to see a national system of road pricing in place by 2014, and has asked the West Midlands to become one of the nation's charging pioneers.
Councils in the Black Country and Birmingham have been told to come up with ideas to reduce traffic congestion.
They have been warned they cannot expect to receive billions of pounds in investment in trains, buses and the Midland Metro they are seeking if they don't speed up plans for a congestion charging scheme.
