THE planned Low Emissions Zone could save taxpayers millions, transport experts claim.

The zone, which would force the most-polluting lorries to pay £50 to come into the town centre, could come into force at the end of next year if Reading and its partner councils are successful in their phase one bid to the Government's Transport Innovation Fund (Tif) for £52m and ongoing funding towards public transport improvements.

Planned improvements include more buses, bus fare cuts, a pedestrian bridge linking Christchurch Meadows to Vastern Road and a park and ride at Three Mile Cross.

Reading's head of transport Pat Baxter said: "We're as confident as we can be that we've answered all the questions that the Department for Transport has put to us and we hope for a speedy response. The Tif bid has evolved - we didn't start out looking at a low emissions zone but it's emerged as a very sensible thing to do."

From 2011-2016, the Low Emission Zone's (LEZ) revenue is estimated at £5.2m and operating costs at £2.3m. Fewer HGVs on town centre roads will also mean less maintenance, saving £440,000 over the same period. Signs warning lorries to avoid Reading could go up as far away as Oxford, to try to get them to stick to main roads like the M40, M4 and A34.

Computer transport modelling suggest that time savings through reduced congestion from the LEZ and junction improvements would total £42m for business drivers and passengers, £135m for non-business drivers and passengers and £46m for public transport users over the LEZ's operating life.

Improving air quality is a key aim of the LEZ and the financial value of the expected health improvements from 2011-2030 have been calculated at £8.3m.

The overall benefit to Reading's economy from the LEZ and phase one transport improvements is estimated at nearly £254m from 2011-2070, minus costs of £37.6m.

Reading transport officials are hoping to get an initial decision on the phase one bid by March 12, with conditional approval for the LEZ by July 2. It wants to select preferred contractors by February next year, install the cordon cameras next summer and 'go live' in December 2011 or January 2012.

If phase one is successful, the Tif bid could be extended in the coming months to phase two or three, meaning a potential additional windfall of more than £300m on top of the phase one money. This would pay for many more park and ride sites, a third Thames bridge and many other congestion-busting schemes, but if these fail to unclog Reading's road network, the councils have could have to consider implementing congestion charging from the middle of the decade.

Most of the phase one public transport improvements affect Reading, but those planned for phase two and three would mean many schemes that would also improve transport in Wokingham borough, South Oxfordshire, north Hampshire and Bracknell Forest. West Berkshire has stayed out of the Tif bid because of its concerns about potential congestion charging.