Halton Council Approves Bridge Toll Increase After Brief Meeting

Hey, heard about the bridge tolls in Halton. They voted to raise them, like, everywhere. It happened at Runcorn Town Hall last night. The Silver Jubilee and Mersey Gateway tolls will both increase.

The council said they need more money for the project. They haven’t changed toll prices since 2017, you know. A council member, Stef Nelson, spoke at the meeting, stating this is the only rise in eleven years.

So, starting in April, it’ll cost more to cross. If you don’t have automatic payments, it will cost £2.40 – up from £2 for cars. Halton residents get a discount, which also increases to £12 yearly, instead of £10. Automatic renewals stay at the lower rate. Parking fines will also go up: they’ll now be £50 –ouch– instead of £40.

Some people are not happy about it. A group called Scrap Mersey Tolls protested outside. John McGoldrick spoke for the campaign group, saying he thinks local businesses will suffer as they could lose customers because of the tolls.

McGoldrick said the bridges actually make a profit. He stated the surplus was £89m since 2017. He thinks the government grabs some of this money back, and the council gets a share, leading to even more money for the Government and council.

The council didn’t respond to those specific claims though. They did ask people what they thought about the increase. Most were not happy about it, imagine that! They got over ten thousand replies during the consultation, and 77% felt negatively about the rise.

The council says they need at least a 20% increase to maintain the financial stability of the scheme. Without it, they would need even more grants.