A NEW agency called Roadtrack - the counterpart of Railtrack - should be established to run and manage Britain's road network and control road user charges which would be introduced to replace part of the current road tax regime, according to a new report by Cambridge University academics.

Professor David Newbery and Georgina Santos also suggest that Roadtrack's activities should be overseen by an organisation called OfRoad, the counterpart of the Office of Rail Regulation.

They say the Government's attempts to solve the transport crisis lack a clear framework for successful implementation, and instead reflected the 'almost irreconcilable tensions between the Treasury and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions'.

They also claim that, as the 'great transport debate' continues to rise up the political agenda, transport users are losing confidence in the Government's ability to deliver a coherent transport policy - particularly in relation to road pricing and workplace parking taxes as neither, under current plans, would be subject to regulation to protect against further exploitation.