Cornwall Council Votes!
On Tuesday morning, during a meeting repeatedly interrupted by the Monitoring Officer, who appears to exercise more power than the Chair or elected Councillors, Cornwall Council voted to extort even more money out of people crossing the Tamar for work, leisure, education, medical treatment etc. The vote to increase the toll was successful by a vote of 38 for and 36 against the increase.
Though this result is far closer than it has ever been, and does strongly demonstrate the ever growing demand for change that we are driving, it remains disappointing none the less that so many Councillors could not see the bigger picture and need for a different course of action on this issue. In essence, the people of South East Cornwall were badly let down by 38 Councillors, mostly from other parts of Cornwall, who hadn’t the strength of character to vote against an unjust, unwarranted and unwelcome increase in tolls. A message for those from South East Cornwall who did support the increase, “oh the shame”. And, elections are coming. However your local Councillor voted on this issue, we encourage you to write to them to express your thanks or disappointment (as appropriate).
This increase voted through is a 50% uplift from as recently as December 2022. Voted through with no serious consideration of reducing costs, reducing waste, other fund raising methods for reducing debt (selling assets) or delivering efficiencies of any kind. And all with a glib statement from the Portfolio Holder for Transport,
Cllr Richard Williams-Pears that “it’s only 20 pence per crossing”. A statement that reveals in just 6 words his fundamental lack of grasp on the impact this has on people daily reliant on the crossings. Is this man fit for his office? The cheer at the end of the count from those Councillors who voted “for” was similarly galling.
How did your Councillor Vote?
A question we’ve been asked many times already since Tuesday’s meeting, is “how did Councillors vote”? Fortuitously, it was a recorded vote so we are now able to share that information with our supporters. Please see attached two images showing how individual Councillors voted, which region they represent and which party they belong to. Whilst we remain disappointed that the vote against the increase in the Tamar Toll Tax did not prevail, the 38-36 result in favour of it being increased is a significant step change compared to past efforts to effect change on this issue. A change in our favour, and in popular opinion.
Ultimately though, as these images show, the vote was carried by Conservative Councillors from further west in the county being supported (surprisingly) by three Labour Councillors. Are those Conservative Councillors wise to stand in opposition to the will of the people on this? With every MP in Cornwall, and some in Devon, now being opposed to this increase in the toll, time will tell.
Our thoughts
We at TTAG were hugely disappointed that Cornwall Council voted in favour of the increase without requesting that Tamar Crossings make some effort to reduce their spending or investigate other ways of fund-raising, rather than continually passing on their costs to “the user”, costs which include the running of the visitor centre. The current model of charging a dwindling number of “users” for maintaining both the bridge, ferry and their associated staff and infrastructure is unsustainable long term. We would like to see this acknowledged and addressed by both Tamar Crossings and the joint Councils. This so that an end to this huge financial burden on users who have no alternative route to cross the Tamar can be sought.
However, we take heart from this as it means our campaign is progressing as we’d hoped, with the public and local politicians alike finally beginning to recognise that change is not only necessary, it is inevitable. The Lib Dems, Mebyon Kernow and Independents came close to defeating this motion for an unjust additional levy with support from some Conservative Councillors from South East Cornwall and further west standing in opposition to their party on this motion; voting instead in support of people they represent who are already suffering a significant burden from the toll and cannot afford to contribute more. The motion would in fact have been defeated entirely had a few key supporters from the Liberal Democrat party not been absent on the day. Also notable was that three members of the Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee voted against the increase.
Next steps
If you haven’t already, please sign Sheryll Murray’s petition to the Secretary of State for Transport asking him to oppose the Toll Revision Order when applied for. Please also share it to your colleagues, friends and family.
