During the last month, I was pleased to launch a campaign with two of my Labour Party colleagues around the tolls for crossing the Tamar. I have worked closely with Luke Pollard MP, and Fred Thomas – Labour’s Parliamentary candidate for Plymouth Moor View, to shape a campaign that we believe answers the question over the future of the Tamar crossings.

The Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry are jointly owned by the two Councils of Plymouth and Cornwall – this means that any funding for upgrades and repairs must come from each Local Authorities budgets. After years of underfunding by this Conservative Government, the Councils do not have any cash to support the crossings, so it falls to those who use the bridge and the ferry to pay for the cost of upkeep and investing in upgrades.

There is much talk of abolishing the tolls altogether, which in an ideal world would be great of course – but this would involve the Government taking over both crossings under National Highways and they have already indicated that they won’t do this. Other suggestions are that the Bridge is free and only the ferry users pay – this would result in a toll of somewhere in the region of £10 for each crossing, some around Saltash think this is fair, but my issue with this is ferry users, faced with an extra £50 a week to get to work are more likely to drive around and use the “free bridge” instead. We know that the A38 is a dangerous road with high levels of particulate pollution already, not to mention the increasing complaints around the congestion already happening through Saltash and over the bridge – going down this road will undoubtedly make these serious issues worse.

You can’t divorce the ferry from the bridge, and so let’s look at what can be done to make using either crossing easier for those who use it the most: local people and local businesses.

Over the years, the Bridge and Ferry company borrowed to fund upgrades and that debt sits with the Councils but only if the tolls don’t cover repayments, which they have to date. The consultation to hike fares has just closed and both Labour and Conservative figures locally have shared their ideas.

The Tories call to freeze any rises this year in what is shamelessly an election gimmick. A one year pre-election toll freeze doesn’t help the finances of the crossings – it makes them worse – and it doesn’t deal with an unfairness of regular users paying the most for the upkeep of the crossings. We don’t need gimmicks designed to save Tory MPs on election day and, quite frankly, puts us back where we were a few years ago when the previous Lib Dem/Indie led Cornwall Council wouldn’t deal with this issue either – it is pushing the problem down the road … again.

So, what is our Labour proposal for the Tamar Tolls? It is really quite simple, we want to see the crossings cost less for local users (i.e., those with Tamar Tags) and cost more for visitors to the area. We want to see this difference increase over time, which would protect the overall financial envelope for the Bridge and Ferry but would mean local users aren’t bearing the brunt of the costs when household finances are already at breaking point.

Cheaper tolls for local people would help those who use the crossings most. It means those visting our beautiful coast and countryside would pay a bit more and local people would pay a bit less. It also means the overall financial envelope won’t change, so it won’t risk the financial sustainability of the bridge or the ferry. I’d like the crossings to be free, but that’s not on the cards at the moment, so let’s make crossing the Tamar cheaper for local people. What’s not to like about that?

You can read more about this, and sign our petition by visiting: https://www.lukepollard.org/news/2023/10/19/plymouth-labour-politicians-call-for-cheaper-tolls-for-local-people-on-tamar-crossings/

Cllr Kate Ewert, Rame Peninsula & St Germans.