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Mersey Gateway and Silver Jubilee Bridge toll charges consultation approved by Halton Borough Council

Halton Borough Council has today (Thursday 24 October) approved plans to consult on an increase in toll charges on the Mersey Gateway and Silver Jubilee bridges from April 2025.

Whilst approving the overall consultation around toll charges, Halton Council’s Executive Board has also decided that there will be no changes to the Blue Badge holder scheme. 

The consultation will start in November 2024 and will last for six weeks. 

The recommended increase would:

• be the first in seven and a half years since the Mersey Gateway Bridge opened
• raise the unregistered toll charge for all vehicle categories by around 20%
• increase the toll charge for unregistered cars from £2 to £2.40 
• mean toll charges have increased by less than the cumulative RPI inflation rate since the bridge opened – which has already reached 40%.

Proposed unregistered toll charges from April 2025

In order to fund the project over its lifetime, it was always expected that toll charges would need to increase annually in line with inflation, but Halton Borough Council has been able to defer annual increases to minimise costs to motorists. 

The MGCB’s recommendations set out a forward-looking plan where, if toll charges are increased by around 20% next April, then, barring unforeseen circumstances, they will remain at that level for three years. This would mean that by April 2028, toll charges would have increased just once in the first 11 years of the project.

Customers registered with toll operator merseyflow would continue to get discounted crossings where they are eligible as set out below: 

• Registered pre-pay customers and monthly pass holders – specific discounted prices have not yet been finalised, but it is anticipated they would also increase by around 20%. This would mean a toll charge of £2.16 for sticker registered Class 2 vehicles compared to £2.40 for unregistered Class 2 vehicles.

• Local User Discount Scheme plan holders – the cost of a LUDS plan would increase by £2. However, there is a proposal for a discount to £10 for those eligible Halton residents who renew via auto renewal.

• Penalty Charge Notices – it is proposed that PCNs would increase from £40 to £50 in line with the toll charge increase.

Mersey Gateway and Silver Jubilee Bridge toll charges could be set to rise for first time in over seven years

Toll charges on the Mersey Gateway and Silver Jubilee Bridges could be set to rise in April 2025 under recommendations submitted to Halton Borough Council’s Executive Board this week by the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board (MGCB)*.

The recommended increase would:

• be the first in seven and a half years since the Mersey Gateway Bridge opened
• raise the unregistered toll charge for all vehicle categories by around 20%
• increase the toll charge for unregistered cars from £2 to £2.40
• mean toll charges have increased by less than the cumulative RPI inflation rate since the bridge opened – which has already reached 40%.

Proposed unregistered toll charges from April 2025

In order to fund the project over its lifetime, it was always expected that toll charges would need to increase annually in line with inflation, but Halton Borough Council has been able to defer annual increases to minimise costs to motorists.

The MGCB’s recommendations set out a forward-looking plan where, if toll charges are increased by around 20% next April, then, barring unforeseen circumstances, they will remain at that level for three years. This would mean that by April 2028, toll charges would have increased just once in the first 11 years of the project.

Customers registered with toll operator merseyflow would continue to get discounted crossings where they are eligible as set out below:

• Registered pre-pay customers and monthly pass holders – specific discounted prices have not yet been finalised, but it is anticipated they would also increase by around 20%. This would mean a toll charge of £2.16 for sticker registered Class 2 vehicles compared to £2.40 for unregistered Class 2 vehicles.

• Local User Discount Scheme plan holders – the cost othe cost of a LUDS plan would increase by £2. However, there is a proposal for a discount to £10 for those eligible Halton residents who renew via auto renewal.

• Blue Badge holders – there is a proposed change to the Blue Badge scheme. This would see the current arrangement replaced by a scheme where vehicles that are registered in the Disabled Taxation class and are fully exempt from vehicle tax, would be able to cross for free without any registration requirement. This is a simpler approach widely used on other tolled routes across England. (UPDATE: The proposed change to the Blue Badge scheme was rejected by Halton Borough Council’s Executive Board on 24 October 2024, so this is no longer part of the consultation).

• Penalty Charge Notices – it is proposed that PCNs increase from £40 to £50 in line with the toll charge increase.

If plans are given the go-ahead to move forward by Halton Borough Council’s Executive Board, there will be a consultation starting in November around these proposals and the adoption of an updated Road User Charging Scheme Order (RUCSO), which is the legal document that sets out the toll charges.

Government grants form a critical part of the Mersey Gateway funding package

The majority of funding for the Mersey Gateway Project has and will continue to come from toll charges paid by people who use the bridges. The remainder comes from the Department for Transport (DfT), which provides tens of millions of pounds of funding for the project every year. Without this subsidy from Government, the project would make a significant annual loss.

The Executive Board report details the government grants issued to the Council over the first five and a half years of operating the project and the amount of unused grant that has now been returned to the DfT.

Halton Borough Council is repaying unused grant back to the DfT because it receives this grant funding in advance based on an agreed estimate. Once the actual revenue and expenditure is known each financial year, then the amount of grant that is required is calculated, and any unused grant is then returned to the DfT at the relevant review period.

This unused grant cannot be used to offset the increase in tolls as it belongs to the DfT.

• In total, the DfT provided operating grants of £138 million to the project from October 2017 to March 2023.
• £85.35 million of this DfT grant was used to help fund the project.
• In line with original funding agreement,
  • £44.75 million, representing 85% of the unused grant, has now been returned to the DfT, and
  • the remaining £7.9million, representing 15% of unused grant, has been retained by Halton Council to contribute towards the operation, maintenance and improvement of the Silver Jubilee Bridge and any public transport initiatives in the Council’s Local Transport Plan.

More information is available at www.merseygateway.co.uk/finances.

Mike Bennett, Managing Director of the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board, said “The whole council team is pleased that we’ve been able to keep toll charges the same for over seven years, as well as providing discounts for eligible Halton residents and regular users of the bridges. I would urge anyone who uses the bridge in Halton regularly to register with merseyflow as that is the only way to get discounts on your crossings and it makes managing your payments so much easier.”

Cllr Stef Nelson, Halton Borough Council’s portfolio holder for Environment and Urban Renewal, said: “We always knew that we would need to adjust tolls for inflation to meet the costs of maintaining and operating the bridges. The recommendations from the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board set out a sustainable approach to doing that.”

He added: “In terms of the retained grant funding, this isn’t a surprise or a sudden windfall. It is the funding mechanism for the project working exactly as all parties involved expected it to. It has been part of the Council’s budget planning process over the past couple of years, and it has allowed Halton Council to continue to fund essential public transport services.”

*The Mersey Gateway Crossings Board is a special purpose vehicle established by Halton Borough Council with the delegated authority to deliver the Mersey Gateway Bridge Project. It operates as a commercial (though not-for-profit) organisation on an arm’s length basis.

PCN numbers continue to fall year-on-year as Covid-19 impacts on Mersey Gateway traffic numbers

The latest Mersey Gateway figures show how people are heeding Government guidance and cutting out non-essential travel since the lockdown began on 23 March.

They also show a continuing year-on-year reduction in the number of PCNs issued (a 14% drop) and the income received from PCNs (a 20% drop).

These are like-for-like comparisons as the cut-off date of the end of March would be too early to reflect any impact of Covid-19 on the number of PCNs issued and customers paying.

The detailed figures, which are presented in the quarterly Mersey Gateway dashboard and cover January – March 2020, show:

• Covid-19 lockdown impact starting to show in journey figures traffic levels in March 2020 were at their lowest since the bridge opened as people followed Government guidance to only undertake essential travel.
• A 14% reduction in the number of PCNs issued compared to the same period last year (meaning 24,000 fewer PCNs were issued), which means more people are paying on time for their crossing.
• Record high traffic levels for January and February – before the lockdown began traffic levels for January and February were at their highest ever.
• Over 97% of journeys were paid for on time (either through their account or by midnight the day after crossing).
• Income from PCNs was down 20% when compared to the same period in 2019.

The merseyflow quick pay app, which is now available for iPhones and Android phones, has been downloaded over 25,000 times since it was launched, and is now the second most popular method of payment (after the merseyflow website). A number of new features for the app are now being tested and will be ready for roll-out within the next few weeks.

Tolls/charges remain in force on the bridge, despite a number of urgent requests from Halton Borough Council, which have been supported by merseyflow, to the UK Government to temporarily waive tolls/charges during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The UK Government has not agreed to this request as it has maintained its stance that continuation of tolling/charging on crossings is a matter that has to be considered in a national context.

Whilst it is unclear how long the lockdown will last, the next quarterly dashboard – due in July – will show some significant changes as people minimise non-essential travel, including:

• a huge drop in traffic volume – journeys in April have dropped significantly, with weekday traffic volume running at just 35% of the pre-lockdown numbers
• a significant reduction in the number of PCNs issued
• a significant reduction in income from tolls/charges and PCNs.

Neil Conway, Chief Executive of merseyflow, said: “The world has changed significantly in the past month, and the January to March figures are just starting to tell that story. Our message to everyone is to stay safe and only travel if it is essential in line with the latest Government guidance. I’d also recommend that anyone who is paying for individual crossings downloads and uses the merseyflow quick pay app as it is the quickest and easiest way to pay for individual journeys.”

He added: “We’re very supportive of the stance Halton Borough Council and the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board have taken by asking the Government to temporarily waive tolls/charges at this stage of the Covid-19 pandemic and will continue to support them with that.”

Mike Bennett, Managing Director of the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board, said: “We’re continuing to work with Halton Borough Council’s leadership team to demonstrate to Government why tolls/charges should be temporarily waived at this stage of the Covid-19 pandemic. These quarterly figures, and those from the first two weeks of April, show that people here are doing their bit by cutting out essential travel.”

He added: “Whilst toll/charges are still operational, it is really important that people pay for their journeys. I would encourage anyone who uses the bridge regularly to register with merseyflow and get a discount on their crossings.”

The quarterly merseyflow dashboard provides a range of in-depth statistics and graphs which show information on the number of crossings made, average daily traffic, number of PCNs issued, payments made on time, total revenue and what percentage of this comes from PCNs.The dashboard can be viewed at www.merseyflow.co.uk/stats