'It's road improvements or no bridge tolls' – transport secretary warns of tough choices
Motorists have been warned tough choices lie ahead between major road improvements or scrapping the Humber Bridge tolls.
New Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said East Yorkshire may benefit from upgrades to roads, such as cutting congestion on the A63, or perhaps the abolition of the controversial tolls – but not both. He told the Mail: "There is only going to be a certain amount of money and it's likely to be quite limited. If money is spent in one area it won't be able to be spent in another."
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New Transport Secretary Philip Hammond.
The £200 million upgrade to the A63 Castle Street in Hull was given the green light by the Labour government in the months before the election, but has been put on hold as ministers move to tackle the UK's record deficit.
The Mail has mounted a long-running campaign against the bridge toll, with critics arguing the charge – which is £2.70 for a crossing in a car – is stifling the local economy.
Mr Hammond's comments suggest the region now faces a stark choice between new roads, such as the Castle Street improvement, and an end to the controversial tolls.
The minister, who visited the area last year in his former role as Shadow Chief Secretary, said: "I spent a very interesting morning at the Hull Chamber of Commerce engaged in a debate between two separate groups of local business people trying to decide whether their priority is the A63 upgrade or removing the bridge tolls.
"They weren't very happy when I told them in my role as Shadow Chief Secretary that they might have to tell me which was their priority, rather than simply telling me that both are important – I know both are important, but these are the kind of tough decisions that communities are going to have to deal with, deciding which of the various pressing problems is most important to the area.
"In relation to bridge tolls, you've got essentially a trade-off between do we invest more in infrastructure or do we use the available money to avoid, in the case of bridge tolls, charging."
Officials at the Department for Transport are said to be in detailed discussions with the Humber Bridge Board about the level of tolls and long-term funding.
But it is thought any move to write off the bridge's historic debt and axe the tolls would make it harder to argue for big capital projects like the A63.
The chief executive of Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce, Ian Kelly, gave a measured response to the minister's comments.
He said: "We had a very productive meeting with Mr Hammond as Shadow Chief Secretary last year and much appreciated his candour.
"We did, of course, also highlight that spending on transport in Yorkshire and particularly the Humber has been among the lowest in the UK for a long period of time."
Hull West and Hessle MP Alan Johnson said Mr Hammond was offering a "ridiculous trade-off".
He said: "Sorting out the A63 is not just important for Hull, but important for the British economy, and reducing the Humber Bridge tolls to £1 would lift the economy in our region. Both projects are about investing to save and there is a good argument that reducing the tolls will attract more traffic and therefore be cost-effective in itself."
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by joe, east riding
Tuesday, July 27 2010, 6:45AM
“before you think of bringing more vehicles into the town you need a good road system in and out of the town, the only way of doing this is to work from the city outwards
reducing the humberbridge would only bring extra traffic into the town and prove how good the road sysem is in the town.
as you can see by all the comments the problem is the a63.
you have the traffic from the ferry from east hull going to west hull and the lights and roundabouts slowing them down causing problems and going from west to east is lights and roundabouts all other towns have a bypass”
by Mike, Vicky Dock
Sunday, July 25 2010, 6:06PM
“Martin, Stuck everyday on castle street, Couldn't agree more...the roundabout at victoria dock is dangerous and stupid! I live on Vicky Dock and its a nightmare at all times of the day getting on or off the dock...like you say, it will take for someone to get killed for the idiots in charge to do something about it! shame...”
by Jonathan, Cottingham
Sunday, July 25 2010, 9:27AM
“Also, the reason for the 50mph speed limit on the bridge has a lot to do with vibrations caused by vehicles travelling over it. Anyone who remembers the Takoma Narrows disaster should recall that vibrations from traffic caused the structure to stress and ultimately break.
In order to save money for maintenance and damage repairs, the speed limit on the bridge should be strongly enforced, using speed cameras to deter people from breaking the limit.”
by Jonathan, Cottingham
Sunday, July 25 2010, 9:25AM
“Also, the reason for the 50mph speed limit on the bridge has a lot to do with vibrations caused by vehicles travelling over it. Anyone who remembers the Takoma Narrows disaster should recall that vibrations from traffic caused the structure to stress and ultimately break.
In order to save money for maintenance and damage repairs, the speed limit on the bridge should be strongly enforced, using speed cameras to deter people from breaking the limit.”
by Jonathan, Cottingham
Sunday, July 25 2010, 9:21AM
“The Humber Bridge is one of the key gateways to this region.
In order for Hull to be taken seriously as a city, a centre of commerce and a tourist destination, the bridge toll needs to be reduced dramatically, as at present it costs people nearly £6 (cars - a lot more for bigger vehicles) to visit and leave the city via the A15. This is outrageous. That said, the toll booths being in place do slow traffic and act as a deterrent for criminals planning on entering or leaving the city at speed via the A15.
However, Hull will never develop as long as this extremely expensive barrier is in place.
The other roads in Hull are not bad, and sign-posting and traffic management is not bad - certainly compared to cities like York. The road surfaces need improving, but £200million really does not need to be spent on the regions roads.”
by Martin, Stuck everyday on castle street
Saturday, July 24 2010, 10:14PM
“It doesn't need 200 million spending for an upgrade. All it needs is for the highways and department of transport is to employ someone like me who can come up with the solution quite easily. I usually travel on castle street between 0750 and 0800 every day. The other day I had to be at work early and was there about 7am, no traffic, great. I still got stuck at the lights at toys r us and there was no other traffic but me. It was as though I was being deliberately held there. What this town needs is for the brainless people who come up with these ideas to actually travel the roads in the first place. Which idiot came up with the idea of putting lights in at victoria dock. It only ever needed pedestrian lights for them to cross the road. Now we just have a gridlocked roundabout with no-one moving at times. What a disaster and it's dangerous and someone is going to get killed. I could go on and on about the other areas that highways and dept. of transport have got it wrong. Best thing for castel street is get rid of the lights at victoria dock, it was ok as it was. Give us the 3 lanes over myton bridge which we used to have and block any traffic entering the roundabout at toys r us and just make it filter left and straight on. Cost about 50k, less if they get rid of the idiot who controls the lights there.”
by Ranter, Hull.
Saturday, July 24 2010, 10:06PM
“Anyone who thinks the Conservatives would invest money in either one or the other must be living in cloud cuckoo land.
Unless of course some of their greedy immoral backers were to make a few quid out of it.”
by kevin, e yorks
Saturday, July 24 2010, 7:56PM
“some good posts on here tonight,hulls transport infrastructure,both road and rail,is positively 3rd world to other British cities,and we are a huge port in the middle of the east coast,both schemes must go ahead,as stated,over the years,east Yorkshire has been totally under funded,until castle st is sorted,the flow of traffic to the docks will be slow,and the fruit market and marina area will not get developed,because you have to cross the busy a63,which is horrendous for pedestrians,the humber bridge has been paid for,its the interest we are paying for now,it is holding back both banks of the humber,i think people would accept a £1 charge for cars and £5 for hgv,s,also the jocks lodge junction near Beverley,is a prime example of building road schemes on the cheap in east yorks,why on earth they never built it with 4 exits so traffic doesn't have to cross,and surly people have noticed another major bottleneck in this area at the castle hill and willerby roundabouts,something must be done about this,i wont hold my breath,I'm afraid 13 years of labour mismanagement is giving the coalition government lots of ammunition.”
by Keith Peat, Sutton on Sea
Saturday, July 24 2010, 6:45PM
“Ok the poll is wrong. Why either or?
See the better survey on this at www.abdlincolnshire.co.uk
There are other things Hammond can cut to save money and by reversing the unscientific speed review can bring in about £30 billion a year into the treasury too.”
by Lizzie, Barton
Saturday, July 24 2010, 6:02PM
“I'm for no tolls or lower tolls. I travel on the bus to Scunthorpe, Hull or Grimsby to do my shopping and to visit family. I also walk around Barton. If people got out of their cars and walked when they could there would be less carbon emissions. No I am not talking about those that need their vehicles for traveling to and from work or the haulage and delivery vehicle but those who use their vehicle just to get the kids to school in the next street or nip to the shop for milk. Drivers do have legs if they care to use them.”