The 50th anniversary of the opening of the Severn Bridge has prompted a leading commercial property specialist to call for a defined pricing formula for future toll rises.
The bridge was opened on September 8, 1966, and the cost to cross in a car was 2s 6d, the equivalent of 12.5p in decimal currency. Taking into account inflation the price today should have risen to 95p, but instead to toll paid by westbound car drivers is £6.60, while van drivers pay £13.20 and lorry drivers are charged £19.80.
Tim Davies, Bristol-based head of the South West and South Wales office of global real estate firm Colliers International, said that after 50 years of ongoing debate about tolls it was time to consider setting up an independent body to agree the implementation of a new pricing system.
“The bridges across the River Severn are supposed to provide access to Wales, but the tolls mean they are seen as a barrier by many, and inevitably this has an effect on the Welsh economy,” he said.
“There have been calls to scrap tolls once the Severn Bridge and the Second Severn Crossing are handed back to the Government from the private company presently running them, but this is unlikely and a more practical solution could be to have greater transparency in the setting of affordable toll prices.
“At a time when the Severn Bridge is marking its 50th anniversary, and with just a couple of years to go before both bridges across the Severn are returned to public ownership, this is arguably an ideal time to look at implementing an effective means of levying tolls going forward.
“One option could be to establish an independent organisation that could produce a formula for toll prices once the bridges have been returned to public ownership, and could also monitor future maintenance and expenditure.”
In this year’s Budget, the then Chancellor George Osborne announced that the current £6.60 toll for cars would be reduced to £3.30, subject to inflation, after the expected handback to public ownership in 2018.
However, Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats have called for the complete scrapping of the tolls, which have been described as a tax on entering Wales.
At present, toll prices are adjusted annually using a formula based on the Retail Price Index. The Severn Bridge Act 1992 resulted in a significant increase in toll charges, with revenue from motorists bring used to pay towards the cost of building and maintaining the Second Severn Crossing, which opened in 1996.
