Tolls at the Prince of Wales Bridge, formerly the Severn Bridge, were removed in 2018 after being there for 50 years. It came much to the delight of those who commuted across the border, and to others who made the journey regularly.
However, Monmouthshire County Council, which the bridge sits in, has now floated the idea of bringing the toll charge back. In its five-year local transport plan, a 72-page document was delivered to residents and made available to view online.
Among the list included the motion to “reinstate tolls on Severn bridges”. This particular plan was a part of the “schemes subject to review and further consideration” on page 42 of the document.
Monmouthshire County Council is Labour-run and only has the power to lobby the Welsh government in the Senedd.
It made its case by saying a return of the tolls would “reduce journeys to and from Bristol by private car and subsequently would reduce traffic on the M4 and the M48”.
The council added that the move would also “involve multi-agency approval” and would be “likely to attract significant public and business opposition”.
This week, however, Deputy Minister Lee Waters who is responsible for transport policy, out-right said there would not be a return to the tolls.
Conservative MS Natasha Asghar asked the minister what the plans were during Senedd questions after hitting out at what she described as Welsh Labour’s “aggressive anti-motorist agenda”.
Mr Waters replied: “She knows that full well there are no plans to reintroduce tolls on the Severn Bridge. There never have been plans.
“It [the council] was simply looking at all the options as is responsible to do so and they’d be failing in their job of doing a proper assessment had they not looked at those options.”
He continued: “Now we can have a serious conversation about how we tackle congestion, how we reduce carbon emissions, how we reduce deaths on the road, or we can have knockabout where everything is twisted and taken out of context in order to wind people up.”
Mary Ann Brocklesby, council leader for Monmouth, has since said that Monmouth has no intention of pushing for the reintroduction of tolls.
Its inclusion in the paper, which was published late December, similarly doesn’t mean the council is “lobbying” for it, she added.
