Council bosses in Edinburgh are having formal discussions with Holyrood transport chiefs about the possibility of charging drivers to use certain roads as part of efforts to cut congestion.

Edinburgh City Council has committed to cut car kilometres by 30% by 2030, while the Scottish Government has vowed a 20% reduction across the country by the end of the decade.

In 2005, a referendum to create a congestion zone in the city was overwhelmingly rejected by residents – but council chiefs are re-examining whether road users could be charged.

The 2005 plans would have charged motorists £2 a day – with fines up to £60 for those who did not pay.

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City transport convener said that officials are “working with the Scottish Government on pay-as-you drive”, adding “that’s what used to be called congestion charge”.

The Labour councillor added: “The idea of a cordon around the city is not ruled out yet but I think road pricing is absolutely the way to deal with this going forward.

“It gives us much more control for different parts of the city, different times of the day, different pricing for different routes and maybe different pricing for different vehicles.

“I think there’s much more flexibility there if we get those powers right.”

Mr Arthur claimed that Transport Scotland “decided to pause” their work on the concept last year.

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He added: “For it to work, it also needs collaboration with the UK Government and Rishi Sunak’s war on cars thing “As we move away from fuel duty, as we move to electric, what’s the alternative to fuel duty?”

The Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 established the discretionary power for local authorities to implement road user charging schemes.

But the transport convener said that the idea is “maybe five years away”, and warned that if action was brought forward now with cameras installed to read licence plates “we would be introducing obsolete technology”

He said: “That’s why it makes sense for the UK and Scottish governments to work together, get road pricing right and devolve those powers to local authorities.

“I do hope that local authorities across Scotland do engage with the Scottish Government on it. Id o think that for it to work, local authorities should have maximized powers to tailor it to the needs of the city.”

The city council is pushing ahead with policies to prioritise buses such as seven-day-a -week bus lanes and other measures to reduce car traffic such as proposals to remove through-traffic from the North and South Bridges corridor in the Old Town, as well as potentially removing traffic from Cowage and Canongate.

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Mr Arthur said: “I think it would be fundamentally wrong to introduce it without putting those bus priority measures in place.

“You are charging people when they’ve not got an alternative.”

Pressed about how road charging plans might work for Edinburgh, Mr Arthur said it could be tailored to “maybe make it cheaper in the evenings”, while “key routes” and areas around schools could be targeted.

A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “We all want to see our capital city continue to be a highly successful and attractive place to live, work, visit and do business.

“Transport connectivity has a key role in that, which is why both the Scottish and UK governments have committed to jointly investing £600 million in the Edinburgh and south east city region deal.

“We have always been clear that reaching our target of a 20% reduction in car km by 2030 will require a broad combination of interventions, including infrastructure, incentives and disincentives. “We believe these decisions should be locally led and welcome the city of Edinburgh’s commitment to 30% car km reduction by 2030.

“We will continue to work with local and regional partners to develop a demand management framework by 2025, with an interim framework published for consultation this year. 

"his will include supporting local authorities who wish to use their existing powers to reduce unnecessary car journeys and to generate future revenue streams from local road user charging.”