Councils to lobby Government for help to cover bridge and ferry coronavirus income loss
There are fears the deficit could rise to £7m by 2025 if no action is taken
Last updated 14th Sep 2020
Cornwall Council and Plymouth City Council will continue to press the Government to provide money to cover the loss of income on the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry during lockdown.
The two councils – which are jointly responsible for running the bridge and ferry – are facing a deficit after suspending tolls on the bridge and seeing a drop in the amount of traffic during the coronavirus lockdown.
At a meeting of the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee today councillors said they would continue to lobby the government for help in plugging the hole in finances.
However they also agreed that they would press ahead with plans to cut the amount of discount for motorists who use a tag to cross the bridge from 50% to 40%.
Councillors also agreed to start the process of applying to raise tolls on the bridge by 20% in January 2022.
But the committee also agreed to review the decisions in December and could scrap them if the government agreed to meet the financial cost.
Councillors heard that the bridge and ferry are facing a deficit of around £400,000 for the current financial year but that this could rise to £7m by 2025 if no action was taken.
However by taking swift action the committee might be able to reduce or eliminate the deficit.
The committee was given a number of options which included raising tolls and cutting ferry services. Members were also given the option of doing nothing or to defer any decision until later in the year.
Councillors indicated that doing nothing was not an option and there was strong opposition to reducing ferry services. It had been suggested that night time services would be cut.
Gary Davis, Cornwall councillor for Torpoint East, said: “The ferry is a key connection for us. A reduction in the ferry service will result in displacement of those vehicles to the bridge and will increase queues through the town.
“That would concern the businesses and residents of Torpoint – it is not an acceptable outcome.”
He added: “It would create further economic and social deprivation for the area. We should be discounting that as an option.”
Gary Davis, Cornwall councillor for Torpoint East
Cllr Davis was also concerned about any decision to increase the cost of tolls which he said would also have a disproportionate impact on residents in South East Cornwall.
He said: “I don’t think I am ready to jump to the conclusion that tolls should increase. That would impact the South East Cornwall economy.
“There is a feeling that the bridge tolls are a barrier to people coming to South East Cornwall in general. If you increase the tolls you are increasing the likelihood that people will stay in Plymouth.”
Cllr Davis added: “The toll is a tax on them (residents) choosing to live in South East Cornwall. It is a tax that no other area of Cornwall faces.
“We don’t want this to be a barrier, it needs to be at the right level. Before you consider increasing the toll you should consider the impact that it will have.”
The Torpoint councillor said that he thought that the two councils should be working to cover the deficit if the government was unable to help.
But Mark Coker, Plymouth City Council Cabinet member for strategic planning and infrastructure, said that would not be possible.
He said: “The local authorities, and I can only speak for us, are facing the most massive crisis that they have had.
“We can’t commit to the future funding because as it stands at the moment we haven’t got the financial ability to support the bridge.”
Mark Coker, Plymouth City Council
Some councillors had supported deferring any decision until December when more information might be available on traffic volumes and whether the government might provide financial support.
Cllr Coker said: “We know that we have a major problem and you are kicking it into the long term. By kicking it into the long term and making it worse is not the right solution.
“The remarks and the letters that we have had from the former minister have not been conducive to saying ‘yes, I support you guys’. Actually it has been far from it.
“I think we are in a very difficult position at the moment.”
A motion was put forward to start the process to apply for a toll increase of 30% – which would increase the cost of crossing the bridge to £2.60 and discount cost of £1.30. It was also called to defer a decision on reducing discount rates and to lobby the government to get support.
However, when put to the vote this was lost with two votes in favour, four against and three abstentions.
An alternative motion was proposed to revise discount levels from the current 50% to 40% in January 2021 and to start action to increase tolls by 20% in January 2022. This also called for the continuing lobbying of government for support.
Any changes to the tolls will be subject to consultation which will be carried out by the two councils.
Councillors added that if the government did provide financial support or there were any other changes in circumstances then they would review the decision when they meet in December.
The motion was passed with five councillors in favour and four against.