THE decision to scrap tolls on the proposed new Mersey Gateway bridge
for people living in Halton and not Warrington has been condemned as a “double whammy” for the town’s motorists by parliamentary candidate Nick Bent.
Mr Bent says George Osborne’s decision to scrap tolls for Halton residents is a “kick in the teeth” for people living in Warrington.
Last Friday the Government announced it was providing new money for the Mersey Gateway project so that all road tolls for Halton Borough residents could be scrapped. But for Warrington residents, tolls will have to be paid for the existing Silver Jubilee bridge and the new road bridge, which Mr Bent says is a “double whammy” for people living in Warrington.
Tolls on the bridges will be £2 each way. The so-called ‘discount pass’ for Warrington drivers will cost £90 per month – over £1,000 per year at a time when many families are struggling to make ends meet.
Mr Bent has questioned the effectiveness of local Tory MP David Mowat, who he claims has again failed to get his own Government to listen to the concerns of Warrington people.
There was controversy last December when the Government announced it was scrapping its plan for new road tolls on a £1.5 billion scheme to improve and widen a 25 mile stretch of the A14 road near Cambridge. Treasury sources delighted local campaigners by saying all the work would be paid for by central government – the planned introduction of tolls is being dropped completely.
At the time, Mr Bent condemned “Tory hypocrisy” for scrapping toad tolls in the South of England but imposing them here in the North West.
Warrington Borough Councillors from all three political parties have also unanimously called for the Mersey road tolls to be scrapped completely.
Mr Bent said: “It is deeply unfair that Warrington people face a damaging double-whammy of two new road tolls plus increased traffic chaos in the town centre as hard-pressed motorists seek to avoid the new charges introduced by the Tory-led Government.
He added: “This is a kick in the teeth for Warrington from George Osborne and more evidence of the local Tory MP letting the town down –
Tory Ministers had already ignored him on the swing bridge problem and now they have ignored him on the Mersey bridge tolls.”
An artist’s impression of the Mersey Gateway bridge
