DRIVERS could be paying tolls to travel in and out of Bolton town centre by 2013.

Details in a document to go before Bolton councillors today suggest congestion charging zones could be set up outside central Manchester.

They would be introduced 12 months after charges are brought in for motorists travelling inside the M60 ring road.

Bolton Council leader Cliff Morris has repeated his vow to oppose any such moves.

Members of the council's executive were today due to discuss a report which went before the Association of Greater Manchester Councils in May.

The document outlines details of association's proposed bid for £3 billion of Government funding.

The cash would be used to boost the public transport infrastructure and establish a scheme which would see drivers pay up to £5 per day to enter Manchester from 2012.

But it also reveals that new "charging corridors" could be added in a second phase of the toll system.

The report says: "This could involve, for example, the addition of charging corridors around the town centres outside the M60."

It also makes clear that charging is "not about a single scheme...but a wider and evolving programme".

The report also says potential future schemes will be included in any bid.

The association meets again on Friday to decide whether to submit the bid.

The document says the second part of the bid would involve local leaders developing a partnership with the Department for Transport to work on the proposals.

"This could potentially put a second phase on track some 12 months behind phase one," the report states.

But Cllr Morris said yesterday: "We do not support a congestion charge for Bolton and would oppose any such scheme for the town in the future.

"There is the option for the council to withdraw from the scheme at a later date if we are not happy with future elements of the bid."

As it stands, both the law and the association's constitution prevent tolls from being imposed on Bolton.

But the draft local transport bill, published earlier this year, proposes a shake-up of regional transport bodies to allow them to "influence the measures individual local authorities implement on their roads".

The Government is currently consulting on the bill, expected to become law within two years.