Minister of State at the UK Transport Department Sadiq Khan has ruled out a freeze in Severn Bridge tolls in a letter to Plaid Cymru AM Chris Franks.
Chris Franks, who represents South Wales Central, wrote to Transport Secretary Lord Adonis last month questioning the continual annual rises in charges for crossing the two bridges across the Severn while they are being frozen on the Humber Bridge.
In his response Sadiq Khan said: “The increase in tolls is calculated using the RPI and the intention of the act (Severn Bridge) is for the tolls to increase annually with inflation. In real terms, the tolls have remained at the same level since 1995.
“The Secretary of State does not have the authority to set the annual tolls below the level of RPI increase without the Concessionaire’s (Severn River Crossing Company) agreement. The need for this agreement is included under Section 10 of the Act.
“However, the Concessionaire would not agree to anything that would affect their revenue, such as a toll freeze. This would reduce the amount of revenue being collected from the tolls and would result in a longer concession period as they would take longer to recover their costs.”
The Minister said the legislation gave a “clear structure to the tolls to give the Concession confidence that it will be able to meet its liabilities and manage the large risks it accepted through the Concession agreement”.
The bridges are expected to return to public ownership in 2016.
Chris Franks said: “Business has made it clear for many years that the levels of tolls act as a serious disincentive to Welsh business and given the economic situation Plaid believes they should be frozen.
“The Humber Bridge, where tolls have been frozen, is run by local authorities. This shows the advantage of public ownership over private profit. I look forward to the Severn bridges coming into public ownership.
“Plaid also doesn’t accept Sadiq Khan’s view that the private consortium faced large risks through its agreement with the UK government. Making money from Severn Bridge through tolls is a no brainer.”
