mtua
HOME   NEWS

20 February 2015

Dear Councillor,

I am writing to you on behalf of the MTUA which is part of the National Alliance Against Tolls (NAAT), I am also a member of Halton Against Tolls.

As you will be aware, since last April, Halton is represented on both Merseytravel and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority who have responsibility for the Mersey Tunnels and for the setting of the Tunnel tolls.

As you may also be aware the Combined Authority met on the 13th and decided to freeze the tolls for the coming year. The Liverpool Mayor, also put down a motion that seeks a review of the effect of the toll provisions in the Mersey Tunnels Act.

He said that “All the profits from the tolls should go into driving down the tolls.”

It is likely that Halton Council will want the Tunnel tolls to be as high as possible to help the privatised bridges, and though the Leader of Halton Council abstained on the 13th February decision it seems that there is nothing that prevents Halton from voting on the Tunnel tolls or taking part in the review of those tolls.

We would also like to draw to your attention the issue of the bridge tolls.

Attached for your information is part of a document that was sent by the MTUA to the Merseytravel Committee and the Combined Authority on 7th February.

MTUA interest in the existing bridge and the plan for a new bridge goes back to 2003. It was around this time that Halton had submitted their plans for an untolled bridge which had been classed by the Department for Transport as a “super work in progress”. I was told by the Borough Engineers in December 2003 that the “bridge could be open to traffic in 2008”. In January 2004 I was told by the Consulting Engineers that the estimated cost of the bridge was £202 million. By November 2004 the cost of a free public bridge had somehow mushroomed to £750 million, helping to make it appear that a tolled private bridge was a better bargain.

In 2009, I represented the NAAT which was one of the two main objectors at the public inquiry into Halton's tolled bridges plan. The chairman of the MTUA was one of our witnesses (the other was from Manchester Business School). There was various evidence submitted by the NAAT, there are links to our evidence at the top of this page.
.

Some things have changed since 2009, including: the scheme has slipped behind by three years, tolls will be charged without having toll booths, the Government is contributing nearly £500 million in subsidies and loan guarantees and Halton is contributing over £100 million in cheap loans, and of course residents of Halton will not have to pay the tolls.

Another thing that seems to have changed is the traffic forecast for when both bridges are first tolled. In reply to a Freedom of Information request last July we learnt that the latest forecast for 'Annual Average Weekday Traffic' daily traffic was 58,892 vehicles.

This compares with the forecast available to the 2009 Inquiry of 74,255 vehicles and the actual traffic in 2006 (the latest actual that was given to the 2009 Inquiry) of 83,700 vehicles. This fall implies that the effect of the tolling is to reduce traffic by nearly 25,000 vehicles a day compared with the 2006 traffic level, (though the forecast of 59,000 vehicles seems to have been made before the Government announcement last July, and so the fall in traffic may now be less).

Back in 2009, most people did not seem to be aware that traffic would fall, and we wondered whether Halton councillors were aware that the latest forecast of traffic was down to only 59,000 vehicles. So in August last year we asked the Council “Can you give .. details of when and how the latest forecast of 58,892 vehicles was given to Halton councillors. If the answer to that is the figures have not been given to them, can you give .. the details of whatever traffic forecast figures were last given to Halton councillors and ..when they were given to them.”

Following an inadequate reply from Halton Council, we contacted the Information Commissioner and are waiting for their decision. As a councillor you will of course already know whether you were aware last August of how much the tolling would reduce the traffic crossing the river at Halton as compared with the 2006 traffic level. It would be helpful if you will tell us the answer. In any case we suggest to you that instead of trying to increase tolls, your Council should be pressing that the plan to toll both bridges at Halton is scrapped, thus removing the 'Keep Away from Halton' signs.

If you have any questions or comments on this letter or the attached extract then we would be pleased to try and answer them.

Yours sincerely,

John McGoldrick
Secretary
Mersey Tunnels Users Association


To Halton councillors



Extract from document sent on 7 Feb 2015 to Merseytravel Committee and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority from MTUA with various points on Tunnels Tolls

i) The reality of the 'Mersey Gateway'

Towards the end of the Combined Authority's inaugural meeting on the 1st April, mention was made of the so called 'Mersey Gateway' project, and the Authority chairman said “Can I add my recognition of what a fantastic project that is and how much of a boost it will be to the city region.”

Particularly as Halton is now a member of both Merseytravel and the Combined Authority we would like to point out a few facts.

1. Halton has said that it is aiming for a car toll on the old and new bridges that is in line with the Mersey Tunnels, and is anticipating that this will be £2. There seems to be every incentive for Halton to vote for Tunnels toll increases. Last month the Merseytravel chairman was asked about this on Radio Merseyside. He said that Halton would not be allowed to vote on this. We later queried this with Merseytravel and they in effect refused to answer, so we are still unclear whether Halton are entitled to vote on Tunnels tolls or not. Though whether Halton vote or not, the situation is that most of the users of the Tunnels are from Liverpool and the Wirral, but their representatives will be outvoted on the Combined Authority.

2. Long before the Combined Authority was set up it seems that Halton, the five Merseyside districts and Merseytravel have been working together. Very little of what has been going on over the last 20 years has been visible to the public, but there are occasional glimpses, such as when in 2001 Halton Council agreed to back Merseytravel's plan to change the law so that they could more easily increase Tunnels tolls. The minute of a Halton meeting says that without the Bill and a change in the law “there was a possibility of a significant reduction in Mersey Tunnel tolls that would increase the use of the Tunnel crossing and the economic case for a new crossing (at Runcorn) could be seriously jeopardised. The uncertainty could also adversely affect the attractiveness of the New Crossing Project to private investors”.

So it seems that as far back as 2001, building a new private bridge was more important to the Councils than relieving congestion. It also seems that the Councils instead of welcoming the possibility of a significant reduction in Mersey Tunnel tolls, supported a plan for more tolls.

This support was confirmed at the Public Inquiry on the 'Mersey Gateway' in 2009. By that time it was no longer a secret that the plan was for tolled bridges, despite that, various councils including Liverpool and Wirral wrote letters that were used at the Public Inquiry as evidence of support for the tolled bridges plan.

3. This scheme for privatised bridges is only going ahead because of massive support from the Government. In part this is indirect in that the Government has propped up the whole of the private finance system with almost zero interest rates, massive creation of money and low taxes for the rich. But it has also had to give more specific support to the 'Gateway' scheme - £212 million of subsidies and £257 million of debt guarantees.

4. The Councils apparently believe that building a toll bridge and putting a toll on the existing bridge will somehow boost the economy in the region and create thousands of jobs. As the tolls will act as a barrier this would be difficult for the average person to believe, but it is even more incredible as it is officially forecast that once the two bridges are tolled, the traffic on the two tolled bridges together will initially be 20,000 vehicles a day less than is crossing now with only one untolled bridge.

Those of us on Merseyside may have got used to what the Councils do, but a stranger who knew what was happening might wonder what was the motive that seems to be driving the Councils to create a toll barrier dividing the region along the River Mersey all the way from Liverpool till you reach Warrington.

Back to top

HOME   NEWS   end of document