The Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) was a transport funding mechanism in England, that has been replaced by the Urban Challenge Fund in March 2010. Its creation was announced by Her Majesty's Government in the July 2004 White Paper, ’The Future of Transport’. The fund had two strands for supporting different types of project: Congestion TIF where local authorities bid for funds for their own schemes; and Productivity TIF where the DfT would identify schemes of national importance. TIF represented a new approach by the Department for Transport (DfT) to allocating some of its budget for England. The fund did not apply to Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland but they would not lose out because the budget for the fund will come from England’s overall allocation, calculated by a mechanism known as the Barnett formula. Congestion TIF schemes The DfT was looking for packages that combine demand management with a coherent anti-congestion strategy. Demand management is a euphemism for increasing the cost of commuting by car to levels above those of public transport, thus reducing the demand for road space. They were most likely to fund packages that involve demand management through road pricing but they may "by exception, be prepared to consider bids involving a Workplace Parking Levy". Bidders Preparing a bid to the fund would be very expensive, so as a first stage the DfT asked for bids for pump priming funds to pay for the research that would be needed to prepare a full bid. In July 2005, Alistair Darling announced that of the 21 groups bidding for pump priming funding, the following eight had been successful: Bristol City Council, Bath and North East Council, North Somerset Council and South Gloucestershire Council £1,495k Cambridgeshire £385k. This bid included development of many major roads within Cambridge, over of new cycle paths, and the implementation of congestion charging if congestion does not decrease. Durham County Council (for Durham City) £300k Leeds City Council and Metro. Application amount to be confirmed. Manchester congestion charge and Greater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund £1,250k Shropshire County Council (for Shrewsbury) £480k Tyne and Wear £950k West Midlands conurbation £2600k Size of the Fund The TIF was to be worth about £9.5bn over seven years, of which about £1.4bn (£200m a year) would be available for Congestion TIF. Other transport funding mechanisms In the UK, spending on transport is too large for local authorities to raise