SEVERN TOLLS BILL CONCESSIONS
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From our Political Correspondent
THE Severn Bridge Tolls Bill, which provides for the levying of charges on transport using the Severn and Wye bridges and approaches on M4, is being amended to meet stiff opposition which was first reported in The Commercial Motor last January.
A series of changes in the Bill proposed by Mr. Tom Fraser, Minister of Transport, makes the major concession that there will be a 40-year limit on the charging of tolls, subject to certain provisions. These provisions include the retention of powers by the Minister to extend the 40-year limit for periods of five years at a time if financial targets are not being met—but at the same time he will have to justify the use of these powers before Parliament.
The proposed amendments also say that the Minister 'shall not charge tolls in excess of those which, taking one year with another, would be enough to meet the requirements of a new schedule to the bill. This schedule lays down the limits of what can be paid for from tolls, including capital expenditure, interest and maintenance charges.
In addition, the Minister will be obliged to lay before Parliament annual accounts of the operation of the levy, and these accounts will be subject to scrutiny and comment by the Comptroller and Auditor-General.
It is hoped that the changes in the Bill will meet the case put forward by Conservative MPs and others, who have been arguing that the Minister should not have power to levy perpetual tolls on the new bridges.
When the Bill was first published, the Traders Road Transport Association and the Road Haulage Association protested at the open-ended nature of the toll proposals. They were later joined by other objectors, including the PTA and PVOA.