The news that the Severn Bridge tolls are unlikely to drop once the vital crossings come into public ownership does not surprise me very much. The UK transport minister Stephen Hammond stated that the government has substantial debts on the bridges that need to be repaid. Both the Severn Bridges are run by a private company, the concession agreement is due to run it course in 2018, at which point the bridges will return to government ownership. It had been suggested that once that concession agreement ran out, the bridge tolls might have dropped to around £1.50.
Sadly this appears not to be the case, the House of Commons Welsh Affairs Select Committee, was told that there would be no drop bridge tolls when the concession ends. Even though the bridges would come back into public ownership there were apparently "substantial government debts that needs to be repaid" from building and maintaining the river crossings amounting to around several hundred million. It is enough to make you wonder after the best part of twenty five years of a private company fleecing the people of south Wales and ramping up fat profits at our expense why the bridges were ever privatised in the first place?
Back in June 2010 a Plaid Freedom of Information request revealed the significant difference between the large amounts of money raised by Severn River Crossing plc from the toll, and the relatively small amount being spent on treating the damage to the cables on the old crossing. The FOI request revealed that (since 2006) some £15 million has been spent on main cable work on the first Severn Crossing (the M48 bridge).
The Highways Agency (back in 2011) revealed that another £5.8 million's worth of maintenance will take place over the next five years. This was despite the fact that some £225,733,000 has been collected in bridge toll revenue since 2006. Back in October 2011 I speculated on whether we were going to get saddled with major work to maintain the bridges while the toll profits were being siphoned off by the concession holding company after the bridges are finally returned to public ownership (then in 2014 or 2016) now 2018. Depressingly the answer is Yes...
Showing posts with label Highways Agency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Highways Agency. Show all posts
Friday, 19 October 2012
Thursday, 28 January 2010
A CASE OF MAYBE? OR WHEN?
While I welcome the news that credit and debit cards may finally be used to pay the tolls on the Severn Bridges, I hope that the National Assembly will stay on the ball to ensure that there is a rapid change in the necessary law at Westminster.
What bothers me is that there is a risk that this may become a case of 'may’ rather than ‘when’ because UK legislation, which governs the crossings, needs to be amended to allow the use of credit / debit cards. As yet the Highways Agency has said that confirmation of any amendment is still awaited.
Now obviously with a forthcoming Westminster General election, the legislative programme will be severely curtailed, so how quickly will the change be made?
The Conservatives, who were in power in 1992, when the original Act governing the operations of what would become the Severn Bridges, was passed will obviously have their own agenda to pursue, slashing and burning their way through the public sector and military budget, no doubt. And what with them believing in tolls and private ownership of assets, this will probably not be a priority in their legislative programme, especially if any proposed change ends up not being passed before the Westminster General election.
I have oft wondered, why was the legislation so badly drafted in the first place to include the infamous annual clause that allows the operating company to raise the tolls every year? It is important to place things in context, 1992 was right in the middle of the privatisation era, when if it could be flogged off for a song, which helped make their dodgy mates in the City more than a few pounds, then it would be.
Did someone get a bung, a few quid in a brown envelope, a seat on the board or a nice holiday in the sun - these things went on at the time, although in 1992 the reality of Conservative sleaze, which could in its day give New Labour sleaze and the scandal of MP's expenses a real challenge for wild newspaper headlines, was yet to be revealed.
That aside, lets be honest, as the Severn Bridges are such vital transport links to the economy of South Wales, the real question should be how long can we afford to have our interests looked after by an increasingly distant and increasingly indifferent Whitehall.
What bothers me is that there is a risk that this may become a case of 'may’ rather than ‘when’ because UK legislation, which governs the crossings, needs to be amended to allow the use of credit / debit cards. As yet the Highways Agency has said that confirmation of any amendment is still awaited.
Now obviously with a forthcoming Westminster General election, the legislative programme will be severely curtailed, so how quickly will the change be made?
The Conservatives, who were in power in 1992, when the original Act governing the operations of what would become the Severn Bridges, was passed will obviously have their own agenda to pursue, slashing and burning their way through the public sector and military budget, no doubt. And what with them believing in tolls and private ownership of assets, this will probably not be a priority in their legislative programme, especially if any proposed change ends up not being passed before the Westminster General election.
I have oft wondered, why was the legislation so badly drafted in the first place to include the infamous annual clause that allows the operating company to raise the tolls every year? It is important to place things in context, 1992 was right in the middle of the privatisation era, when if it could be flogged off for a song, which helped make their dodgy mates in the City more than a few pounds, then it would be.
Did someone get a bung, a few quid in a brown envelope, a seat on the board or a nice holiday in the sun - these things went on at the time, although in 1992 the reality of Conservative sleaze, which could in its day give New Labour sleaze and the scandal of MP's expenses a real challenge for wild newspaper headlines, was yet to be revealed.
That aside, lets be honest, as the Severn Bridges are such vital transport links to the economy of South Wales, the real question should be how long can we afford to have our interests looked after by an increasingly distant and increasingly indifferent Whitehall.
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