BETTER BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH

I welcome the planned reductions in the Severn bridge tolls announced in the budget. The Severn bridge tolls are a current significant financial burden for many businesses, commuters and motorists and will remain so after 2018. The tolls can impact on where people choose to locate and do business, Plaid Cymru has repeatedly said that the ultimate goal should be to scrap the Severn bridge tolls altogether.

In government, Plaid would work to achieve this aim, beginning with a reduction to a fee that would cover maintenance costs only. The Party of Wales is committed to removing all obstacles, which are holding back the Welsh economy. The Severn bridges are of strategic importance and it is vital that they operate in a manner, which helps rather than hinders Wales's economic development.

Westminster still needs not just to come clean on the future of the Severn Bridge tolls, which are a tax on commuters, business and jobs. I have long stated that the National Assembly should have control of the Severn Bridges, it should also be directly involved in any discussions about the future of the Severn Bridge tolls as well, as the record continues to shows that successive Westminster governments remain largely indifferent to Welsh interests.

I remain seriously concerned that the Department for Transport may find even the reduced tolls far too useful as a source of income to simply to either eliminate or to hand over to the control of the National Assembly in Cardiff. Based of the fact that relatively recent Labour Governments in Westminster with significant majorities and various shades of Conservative `(and Liberal Democrat) Governments between 1997 and 2015 did practically nothing to relieve the burden of the bridge tolls.

One thing remains clear, the fact that successive Westminster governments have failed to act in a timely manner when Wales or Welsh interests have been raised in the past. The future reduction in tolls is nice but it is frankly not good enough. At present the long-term future of the tolls still remains unclear – save for the fact that as far as we know Westminster has no plan to remove them. 

UNRELIABLE AND UNTRUSTWORTHY

The news that the Westminster Government has up to another nine years to recover its costs on the Severn Bridge crossings after they return to public ownership in 2018 is not good news. This news was revealed the day before tolls went up on the Severn Bridge with car drivers now paying £6.50 up 10p while heavy goods vehicle and bus drivers having to pay £19.60, up 40p not to mention the rises for small goods vehicles and small buses. The current toll levels would enable costs to be recovered in between one or two years but at the moment Westminster is deliberately keeping its intentions in relation to the rate and length of the tolls after they revert to public ownership hidden. The Westminster Government needs to come clean on its plans for the tolls after 2018 and whether it intends to keep collecting the tolls beyond 2027.

BOUND TO HAPPEN SOONER OR LATER...

The Conservatives in Wales have finally joined calls for the Welsh government to be handed control over the Severn bridges, only to find that a Conservative minister in the Con Dem Coalition government is opposing any such idea. The Conservatives in the Senedd have proposed cutting the bridge tolls and using the proceeds to spend on infrastructure. So we have elected representatives from the same party in opposition to each other over an issue of importance to the Welsh people and our economy. Nothing new here, Labour in Wales was often at loggerheads with Labour in Westminster, putting party (and self) interest before the interests of Wales.

The Second Severn Bridge

Now when it comes to transferring the Severn Bridges (and their income) to Wales, this is also not a new idea. Back in October 2010 Professor Peter Midmore produced an independent economic study of the Severn Bridge tolls which recommended that the revenues should stay in Wales, once the crossings revert to public hands. The Welsh Affairs Select Committee back in December 2010 recommended that the bridge tolls be cut once the concession ends.

At the moment both of the Severn Bridges are run by a private company (Severn Crossings PLC) and the Welsh government (in a report published in November 2012) wants to take control of the Severn Bridges when they return to public ownership. The bridge concession when it ends in 2018 will have brought in some £996 million pounds (based on 1989 prices). At the moment it costs £6.20 to take a car over the M4 and M48 bridges from England to Wales, with driving into England being free. Vans and minibuses cost £12.40 and for Lorries and coaches £18.60. Businesses and commuters currently fork out around £80 million pounds a year to cross the bridges.

Yet, Westminster, no doubt with an eye on useful income stream has said that the Severn Bridges when the concession finally comes to an end won’t be transferred to Wales and also that the tolls may not get cut either. Interestingly enough, the Humber Bridge continues to receive a subsidy, but, no such luck for the Severn Bridges and their hard pressed commuters. Perhaps the party formerly known as New Labour and the current Con Dem Government in Westminster hoped that here in Wales – out of sight and out of mind (at least from a Westminster perspective) - we would not notice the ongoing subsidy.

Plaid has long called for control, or shared control, over the bridge to be devolved to the Welsh government and for negotiations to start immediately to ensure that the transfer is in place by 2018. The Party, committed to reducing the tolls on the Severn Bridges to under £2 per car, recognises that the high cost of the tolls impacts on commuters and businesses (especially freight and logistics) and on people visiting Wales. The bridges are of such importance that it is only fair that control, or at least shared control, over them is in the hands of the Welsh people.

AND SPEAKING OF BRIDGE TOLLS

No it's not the Severn Bridge!

Towards the end of February, a few Westminster MP’s gathered to back a private members bill which aimed to allow hospital patients free travel (to and from treatment) across a toll bridge across a wide river estuary (it was the Humber Bridge, not the Severn bridge(s)). Patients in northern Lincolnshire have no choice other than to use the Humber Bridge to access medical treatment at hospitals in Hull and East Yorkshire. The Bridge tolls were cut by half in April 2012 by a Westminster Government subsidy, falling from £3 each way for cars to £1.50 per crossing (interesting that a Conservative dominated coalition government can do this for a toll bridge in England but is quite unprepared to even consider attempting to reduce tools on the Severn bridges. Despite the reduction in tolls, local campaigners say cancer sufferers who need regular chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions are continually being hit by the £3 return toll charge. The proposed private members bill would give the Humber Bridge Board greater financial freedom and may potentially pave the way for toll-free crossings for hospital patients. A bill was introduced to parliament in January, its passage was however delayed after the Tory MP and former Transport Minister Christopher Chope (Christchurch, Dorset) raised an objection in the House of Commons. The Humber Bridge which was opened to traffic in 1981, has often been at the centre of political controversy over the rising cost of tolls, something that has been blamed on the legacy of spiralling debt from its construction. The Humber Bridge Bill has reached the second reading stage in the House of Commons and will to pass through the various stages of parliament over the next six months. So what exactly are those MP's from the South East doing with their time?

CUT SEVERN BRIDGE TOLL TO £2

A Plaid Cymru government would begin working now to significantly reduce tolls on the Severn Bridges and to make the statement that Wales is open for business for companies from over the border, said the party’s Shadow Minister for Transport. Rhodri Glyn Thomas has called on the Welsh Government to make the case for responsibility for the bridge to be devolved so that Wales can benefit from it.

Ownership of the bridge will be passed to the Department for Transport when the private company which owns it pays back its debt, which is likely to happen in 2018.

Rhodri Glyn Thomas said that a £2 toll for using the bridge will cover maintenance costs for the bridge. Running costs for the Severn Bridge amount to £15 million a year. Currently, consumers and businesses pay in excess of £72 million every year to cross the bridge.

Party of Wales Shadow Minister for Transport, Rhodri Glyn Thomas said:

“Plaid Cymru has always said that lowering the Severn Bridge tolls would bring huge benefits for the Welsh economy. In 2011 it was our manifesto commitment to reduce the tolls and a Plaid Cymru government would be making the case for that now.

“When the private company relinquishes its ownership of the bridge in 2018, the Welsh Government needs to be ready to step in for the benefit of the people of Wales.

“People travelling home to see their families over Christmas will be charged £6 and businesses with lorries will have to may so much more, and this goes against everything the Welsh Government should be doing to improve the Welsh economy.

“Cutting the toll to cover maintenance would save millions for consumers and businesses and would cost the Welsh Government nothing. The UK Government needs to commit to giving the democratically elected Welsh Assembly control over the bridges so that Plaid Cymru’s economic policy can be implemented in the interest of the people of Wales.”