Plans put forward to hike Tamar Bridge tolls by 30%
It is to help plug a financial black hole created by the Covid-19 pandemic
Plans have been drawn up for tolls on the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry to increase by 30% to help plug a financial black hole created by the covid-19 pandemic.
The Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee today “reluctantly” agreed to recommend a 30% hike in tolls which will now be subject to public consultation.
Under the change cash payments for crossings would increase from £2 to £2.60 while those who use the pre-paid tag system each crossing will increase from £1 to £1.30. Any increases are unlikely to come into force until January 2023 at the earliest.
Committee members – who come from Cornwall Council and Plymouth City Council – have been having a number of meetings about how to tackle the drop in finances for the bridge and ferry.
The meeting this morning heard from operations manager David Light who explained that under current projections the reserves for the bridge and ferry would fall below zero unless something was done.
Mr Light said that the numbers of people using the crossings had dropped considerably during the pandemic and had only recovered to around 90% of what they were pre-covid.
He said that if this happened then the costs could fall on the two councils and he said that there had been a clear indication that neither authority wanted this to happen.
Mr Light said that the only solution would be to increase tolls and presented different options for the committee – a 30% uniform increase for all tolls; a 35% increase for all tolls; or a hybrid of 35% increase for cash tolls and 30% for tag users.
Councillors heard that a decision would have to be made soon on whether rise tolls as it will need to be subject to approval from the Secretary of State which could take as long as 12 months.
However some councillors were concerned about the impact that tolls would have on people in South East Cornwall and West Devon who rely on the crossings to access services such as work, school and healthcare.
Andrew Long, Mebyon Kernow Cornwall councillor for Callington, said that he did not want to see any increases in tolls.
He said that those who use the crossings have no alternative so they cannot avoid the increases even if they wanted to.
“I don’t think it is fair on the communities of Plymouth and communities of South East Cornwall as they don’t have an alternative to use.”
Cllr Long was unable to vote at the committee meeting as he was having to attend the meeting remotely but said: “I really will be shouting against any toll increases, I think that is only going to punish the people unable to defend themselves. They have no choice in the matter.”
The MK councillor said that he was “frustrated” and wanted to prevent people from being hit in the pocket with toll increases. And he backed comments from other councillors to seek more support from central government.
He said: “This is the second biggest complaint I am getting from the general public in my area. There are a lot of people in my area using the Tamar crossings not because they want to, not because they have a choice, they have to to access hospital services and to access work.
“Please, even at this stage we need to roll back on this. I appreciate the pressures on budget but we are talking about a big impact here while people in Westminster sit around and that is shameful.”
Mr Light also said that the joint committee and authorities were also continuing to ask the Government to change legislation around the crossings so that tolls can be increased in line with inflation rather than needing permission to increase them each time.
He said: “Our tolls have historically been increased in large jumps – 1994, 2010 and 2019 – each time they have been big chunks of increase.
“We strongly believe that the public, councillors and officers are more in favour of smaller increases and the way to do that is indexed increases with inflation.”
The committee voted unanimously to carry out consultation on a 30% uniform increase in tolls on the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry with a final decision by the committee when it meets in March.
Committee joint chairs Jonathan Drean and Martin Worth, said in a statement after the meeting: ““The crossings over the Tamar are crucial to local residents and businesses, as well as to people visiting Plymouth, Devon and Cornwall.
“We recognise that any decision to increase tolls, particularly at this time, will have a big impact on local people, but we are facing unprecedented financial challenges and need to ensure that we have funding to continue to deliver these services.
“During the past 12 months we have looked in detail at all areas of spending, including staffing, and a range of options to address the financial shortfall. In July we wrote to the Government requesting that National Highways (formerly Highways England) contribute towards the costs of maintaining the bridge. Unfortunately the Minister chose not to accept this request.
“In accordance with the Tamar Bridge Act both crossings are funded on a “user pays” principle which means that our only source of revenue is toll charges. As traffic is still less than 90% of pre Covid levels, without ongoing funding support from the Government the only current viable option to secure the future of the crossings is to revise tolls.
“As a result we have instructed officers to begin local consultation to seek the views of people using the crossings on a 30% increase on both tag and cash tolls for all users.”