Bridge toll discount won’t be extended outside Halton
THE Government has announced it will not extend the local user discount scheme on the two Runcorn-Widnes road bridges for motorists living outside Halton.
Parliamentary under-secretary for transport Andrew Jones MP confirmed the Department for Transport (DfT) had ruled out free crossings for drivers in the neighbouring local authority areas of Liverpool, Knowsley, St Helens, Warrington and Cheshire West and Chester (CWAC)
He said the DfT’s decision followed a feasibility study that concluded there would be a risk of legal challenge were some council areas to receive free crossings and not others.
The total cost of extending the discount scheme to Warrington, Cheshire West and Chester, and the three neighbouring Merseyside areas of Liverpool, Knowsley and St Helens would cost an extra £604m to the public purse, he said.
Mr Jones said contracts had already been signed in relation to Halton and warned that a £377m chunk of the extra funding required would have to be paid by those five local authorities.
His statement emphasised other transport investment in Cheshire and Merseyside including the Halton Curve rail upgrade, the Warrington Waterfront Transport Infrastructure Scheme, the Omega junction 8 M62 highway improvements in Knowsley, improvements to Knowsley Industrial Park and Knowsley Expressway and the development of junction 11a of the M56 in Runcorn, which he said would support the Mersey Gateway project and Daresbury Enterprise Zone – described as the ‘key to the knowledge economy in the North West’ by the minister.
The Government announced in 2015 that it would examine the feasibility of extending Mersey Gateway bridge toll discounts for CWAC and Warrington drivers.
The then-chancellor George Osborne had already revealed in 2014 that Halton residents would be able to cross for free, pending a small registration fee.
Halton’s discount and ultimately a package of free crossings for residents followed campaigning by residents and MPs who argued that it would be wrong to split the local authority area and bar residents from essential borough services with a toll.
Mr Jones’s announcement does not affect the existing Mersey Gateway and Silver Jubilee Bridge discount scheme for Halton.
He said: “The Government has already provided £86m to Halton to develop the scheme, to pay for land and to deal with land contamination. Once the scheme opens, the Government will also be providing a further substantial contribution of £288m to help fund both the cost of the bridge and also to increase the funds available to enable residents of Halton to use the bridge for free.
“It is Government policy that users of estuarial crossings should help pay for the benefits they receive.
“The Mersey Gateway is no different.
“As is the case with the Dartford Crossings, an exception is to be made for residents of Halton given that the existing Silver Jubilee Crossing is the only road link between the two halves of the Borough.
“Other users will have a range of frequent user discounts available to them to use a crossing that will deliver ● considerable congestion and journey time improvements to boost the region’s economy.”