Petition calls for Government funding for Tamar Bridge
There's been a drop in income for the crossing during the pandemic
A petition's been launched asking the Government to help contribute to the maintenance of Tamar Bridge.
Recently we told you bosses are proposing a rise in toll fees due to a reduction in traffic.
Now Plymouth City Council wants the Government to provide support, which the authority claims it does for other significant transport links.
The Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee is currently proposing that tolls need to be increased from £2 to £2.60 for cash users, and from £1 to £1.30 for discounted tags.
The council says this will impact most on those residents who use the bridge daily to commute to work and who may seek alternative routes potentially adding to carbon emissions.
Councillor Nick Kelly, Leader of Plymouth City Council, says, “At the moment we don’t receive any funding to help maintain the Tamar Bridge. A bridge that provides a vital link in the South West. Without it, many people would be cut off – unable to get to work, school or hospital. Vital goods would also be unable to easily reach the region.
“At a time when all finances are being squeezed, it is not fair that we have to ask users of the bridge to put their hands deeper into their pockets. But we have no choice. But what will happen in the years to come, as road users further decline?
“We are only asking the Government for our fair share. We only want the A38 over the Tamar Bridge to be considered in the same way as other major strategic links in the UK.
“This is all about people power. We need the people of the South West to show that they agree with us that tolls must be kept low and fair. So I ask everyone, in Plymouth and beyond, sign the petition and stand with us publicly to ask the Government for help.”
You can sign the petition at https://www.change.org/p/uk-parliament-government-to-pay-a-contribution-towards-the-maintenance-of-the-a38-over-tamar-bridge