'It's time to abolish Tamar Crossings tolls' say campaigners

There's calls to abolish the Tamar Tolls and ask Government to instead fund the upkeep of the crossings.

The joint council committee which oversees them will this afternoon consider a motion - after recently voting to increase charges.

The Tamar Bridge Act of 1957 currently requires the maintenance of the two crossings to be funded through the 'user pays' principle of toll collection.

Campaigners say other bridges - such as the Dartford Crossing - have a different funding model and many users pay significantly less.

In a letter to the Transport Secretary, South East Cornwall MP Sheryll Murray, wrote last month: "My constituents are again being penalised by this additional Tamar Toll Tax increasing from £2.60 to £3.00 cash and £1.30 to £1.50 TAG (for pre-paid discounted crossings) with other vehicle classes increasing pro rata.

"This option is equivalent to approximately 15% increase. This is unacceptable given the current economic times which could mean an extra cost to someone who must cross the Tamar to travel to work of £1 per week or for a hospital appointment. It will also mean that tolls have increased by 1/3 since May 2022 and is unrealistic for many household budgets."

Ahead of today's meeting, campaigners have submitted a Freedom of Information request which found there are 29,235 'Dart Charge' account holders that have an active Local Resident Discount Scheme (LRDS) plan and in the financial year 2022/2023 a total of 2,601,185 crossings were made by LRDS holders.

Scott Slavin, vice chair of the Tamar Toll Action Group, said: "Doing the maths for that number of crossings based on the cheapest toll rate of £2.00 per private car and allowing for the £20 per account annual charge, the lost toll revenue for that financial year was at least £4,617,670.00."

He added: "In effect the Treasury, via National Highways, are subsidising free Dart Crossings to local users to the tune of over £4.6 million annually through loss of this toll revenue. Likely more if some of those account holders have vehicles in classes that would ordinarily pay higher toll fees. Why therefore do the people here not deserve similar support?"

The motion, which can be found here, claims 'local residents, businesses and other regular users of the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry are being unfairly taxed' when they need to access Derriford Hospital, or take children to school - or cross as part of work or caring needs.

It points out the 'A38, which runs over the Tamar Bridge, is part of the national Strategic Road Network, but National Highways, which maintains this network, does not fund the maintenance of the bridge'.

Also that 'Royal Navy facilities are spread across both sides of the river, with HMS Raleigh to the west of Torpoint, huge fuel stores to the north, and hundreds of military and civilian personnel crossing daily between home and work'.

The motion points out: "The Torpoint Ferry is the only river crossing in the UK to operate 24 hours per day all year round because of its uniquely important location connecting a town to a city."

It stresses: "In recent years, changing work patterns have led to a reduction in vehicle numbers using the crossings, and the resulting loss in income from tolls is one of the factors causing a shortfall in finances. Cornwall Council's Transport Strategy aims to reduce private car journeys by over 30% by the end of the decade, which would inevitably increase the cost per crossing for the remaining drivers."

A briefing note to councillors about Cornwall Council's position can be found here

MP Sheryll Murray's letter to the Government added: "In the longer term I would like the government to look at an alternative to tolls for funding these crossings. The tolls mean that businesses in South East Cornwall have an additional cost which does not let them compete on an equal basis.

"The tolls mean that residents have to pay an additional cost to get to many services in our main city such as the local hospital. The tolls create an additional cost to employees who have to cross daily to get to work. The tolls create a barrier for visitors for our massively important tourism sector. Removing the tolls would be, in my opinion, the greatest thing the government could do for levelling up and boosting the economy in this part of Cornwall."

A list of the current tolls can be found here

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