A Bridge Toll Subsidy or Two!

A tale of two bridges……

The below image shows the Mersey Gateway Bridge and the Silver Jubilee Bridge over the Mersey. Work on the six-lane Mersey Gateway bridge, which spans 1.5mi (2.2km) between Runcorn and Widnes in Cheshire, began in 2014.

The Mersey Gateway bridge opened in 2017 and cost some £600 million to construct. Eligible residents in Halton who own Class 2 Vehicles can apply under the LUDS or HLUDSS schemes to cross both the Mersey Gateway Bridge and the previously existing 1961 built Silver Jubilee Bridge for free once they have paid a £10 annual fee. This is a scheme not dissimilar to the local user’s discount scheme in operation on the Dartford Crossing whereby residents of Dartford and Thurrock pay £20 for unlimited crossings annually. A few months ago we published information from an FOI request we made about the number of people benefitting from that Dartford scheme. Please see here previously posted on our Facebook page.

We also now have the below response to a similar FOI request to Halton Borough Council. We analysed the data available at row 4 of their response over the 12 month period from Feb 2023 to Jan 2024 and found that on average, 35% of their traffic flow crosses at the Local Discount rate of £10 per year.

Freedom Of Information Request Questions and Responses from Halton Borough Council

No:

Question

FOI Answer

1

How many account holders are there in total registered for the Merseyflow toll?

At the end of May 2024 there are 545,975 Merseyflow registered Account Holders

2

How may LUDS and HLUDSS account holders are there who benefit from the Halton local resident discount scheme? At the end of May 2024 there are 47,622 LUDS & HLUDSS Account Holders

3

How many crossings were made by the LUDS and HLUDSS resident discount scheme account holders in the most recent financial year where a complete set of data is available? This information is already in the public domain and published quarterly please see the further stats sections of www.merseyflow.co.uk/stats under the further stats section

4

What was the net cost in total lost toll revenue from this discount scheme if these crossings had been made at the full tolled rate? We do no calculate this figure as if residents had to pay for each individual crossing, then they may not have made the same number of crossings as when they are included in their LUDS plan.

5

Is any subsidy received from the Treasury / National Highways (or other government body) to offset this loss of revenue to the Merseyflow crossings?

Yes

Some additional facts and figures, plus our analysis:

  • The Population of Halton, as at the 2021 census, was 128,200. As per row 2 of the table above, there were 47,622 HLUDSS and LUDS account holders from that resident’s group across the same 12 month period above.
  • The total number of qualifying LUDS/HLUDSS crossings during that period was 8,921,230
  • Had these crossings been made paying the full fee of £2 per crossing, this would have raised £17,842,460.00 in tolls.
  • Instead, the Merseyflow Scheme charged those account holders just £476,220 in annual fees.
  • The net lost toll income therefore was £17.366,240.00
  • Even if all LUDS/HLUDSS account holders registered for a sticker and paid £1.80 per crossing instead, they would have raised an additional £16,058,215.80 in toll revenue

This brings us neatly to question 5. i.e. Does the Government subsidise the Merseyflow crossings? Answer: YES.

In an unusual lapse of attention to specifics by us, we missed asking the obvious question 6. i.e. “By how much and from which Government department?”

Watch this space whilst we seek an answer on that!

So why are we sharing this?

Well, we thought it might be of interest for local residents of Plymouth and South East Cornwall to know that the Government subsidises local resident discount schemes on at least two other tolled crossings in England. We think it’s long overdue that Government action was taken to support local residents here with the cost of our crossings. If you agree, make sure you tell the politicians knocking at your door and asking for your vote that you want them to take action on this.

Thus far in their campaigns, only the four candidates below who are local to the crossings are committing to campaign for meaningful change on the issue:

  1. Sheryll Murray – Conservative – SE Cornwall
  2. Colin Martin – Lib Dem – SE Cornwall
  3. Johnny Mercer – Conservative – Plymouth Moorview
  4. Peter Gold – Reform – Plymouth Sutton & Devonport

 

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