It has not been a good month for those planning to travel on congestion-free roads to Manchester's new 'supercasino'.

As I forecast here in April, Gordon Brown has cashed in his chips on the gambling scheme.

Now, plans for charging to enter the city centre have provoked a storm of controversy. This has dashed the hopes of transport bosses, who were hoping widespread consensus would accompany a bid for Transport Innovation Fund cash.

Greater Manchester PTA has put forward a scheme to apply for £1.2bn of TIF money and permission to borrow £1.8 bn. After tram and bus improvements, peak-hours road tolls of up to £5 a day would be introduced to travel within the M60 motorway and an inner-ring road around the city centre.

The row has gone beyond the predictable debate that such projects provoke, to a suggestion that instead of a congestion charge, Greater Manchester's councils should sell their flagship airport to fund public transport improvements.

This idea was seen off even at the height of Thatcher's privatisation zeal, and last year, the 10 councils drew dividends of £25m from the Manchester Airport Group which includes Bournemouth, East Midlands and Humberside Airports.

The sell-off plan has come from Peel Holdings, whose assets include Liverpool Airport and the Trafford Centre. The giant shopping facility is just inside the outer charging area. Peel says the airport sale would raise £3bn, denies the suggestion is connected with its business interests, and says the congestion charging would play Russian roulette with the local economy.

With no prospect of a less lethal version of the game being played at the supercasino, Manchester council leaders have accused Peel of ‘breathtaking naivety'. They remain convinced that road pricing will be widely introduced across the country in the next few years, without the benefit of the TIF money now on offer.