Toll rule leaves residents £1,000 per year worse off
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ATOLL charge rule that means some Halton residents will pay over £1,000 a year to use the Mersey Gateway Bridge – while their neighbours pay just £10 – has been branded ‘discrimination’.
Under the Merseyflow Local User Discount Scheme (LUDS) set up by Halton council, drivers who live in properties in tax band A-F are entitled to unlimited travel across the bridge for the price of a £10 annual registration fee.
However, residents who live in the higher tax bands G and H are not eligible for the offer and must pay the standard toll charge of £2 per journey – or £90 for a monthly pass.
For drivers who cross the bridge daily, this can add more than a thousand pounds to their annual costs, on top of paying the highest levels of council tax.
A daily return journey would cost £1,456 over the course of a year, while using monthly passes would cost £1,090.
For Alison Peddle, a part-time entertainer who lives in a band G property in Runcorn, the cost is almost double that.
Both she and her husband use the bridge daily for work, volunteering and taking their children to netball practice.
She described the exemption as ‘discrimination’, and said: “The idea that if you live in a band G (property) then you must have money is disgusting and a disgrace. It’s discrimination because it leaves out a specific group of people, but no-one cares about us because we’re only a small amount of residents who aren’t eligible.”
Halton generates the 4th lowest council tax in the North West, with 68% of properties in tax bands A and B, and only 0.5% of properties (425 households) in bands G and H.
For Alison, the sting is made worse by the fact that her property was classed as band E until about 10 years ago when the lease came up for sale.
She bought the lease for £190. Her next door neighbour pays just £10 for unlimited access to the bridge, while her family could have to pay up to £2,000 in toll charges over the next year if the LUDS eligibility doesn’t change.
The issue of who should get free access to the bridge has been a point of controversy since it opened, but Halton Borough Council say it’s in the hands of the government.
Council Leader Rob Polhill said: “The exemption does seem a bit unfair but we are required to have a socio-economic criteria by law.
“We can’t change the G&H (band) criteria but someone else can pay the bill. We are asking Government to do this as the council doesn’t have funding to.”
In 2009, legal advice from an independent planning inspector said the LUDS must be based on socio-economic criteria, and this was later endorsed by central Government in 2011.
The Transport And Works Act Order 2011, which gives legal effect to a number of matters in respect of the Mersey Gateway, states that any proposed discount schemes must have regards ‘to those socio-eco- ● nomic groups within the borough of Halton least able to afford the full price of tolls’.
However, it was the council who decided that council tax bands were the best means of assessing socio-economic means at a council meeting in 2013.
A background document explaining the council’s LUDS scheme states: “Following legal advice, the council deemed council tax bands, which are a tried and tested method of determining a family’s means, as the most appropriate economic hardship criteria.”
However residents in bands G and H do not believe this is fair and say the council haven’t factored in their income and outgoings.
They also say the council kept quiet about the exemption in the scheme until just weeks before the bridge opened.
John Mason, who lives in a band G property in Widnes, said: “The issue for me is the injustice of the tolls. We pay more in council tax then residents in the lower bands but we don’t get free crossings.”
Another area resident, Jason Eager, added: “(The council) have not been open and honest with their own residents, as evidenced by the fact that so many band G and H residents were shocked to find out they were excluded from LUDS .
“The council have unfortunately fallen into the trap of the politics of envy by not simply helping those least able to pay, but also by punishing those they feel are most able to pay.”
As it stands, bands G and H residents can apply for toll discount through an Economic Hardship Scheme devised for Halton residents who reside in houses with a household income below the benefits cap.
A Halton Council spokesperson said: “The basis of the Local User Discount Scheme was discussed as part of the project’s Public Inquiry in 2009 and it was determined the scheme should be based on socio-economic criteria.
“This is not new information. The council tax band criteria of A-F was published along with the Mersey Gateway and Silver Jubilee Bridge toll information in 2013 and all this information sits at merseyflow.co.uk
“A consultation is currently under way to allow even more people to apply for the Local User Discount Scheme. Proposals include allowing residents in Council Tax Bands G&H properties who are in full time education or in apprenticeships (subject to status) to be eligible to apply for the full Local User Discount Scheme.
“However, even this does not meet the council’s aspiration that all Halton residents can have unlimited travel over the bridges. The council is not proposing to change the council tax band G&H criteria but as the council does not have the money to fund the cost of all these residents it is asking Government to do this.
“It is also proposed the Council support the lobbying currently under way through Derek Twigg MP and Mike Amesbury MP to invite the government to meet the annual cost of funding journeys over the bridges for Halton residents living in Council Tax bands G and H who are currently excluded from LUDS.”