3. Urgent Question: Tolling on the Severn Crossings

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:40 pm on 17 January 2017.

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Photo of Nick Ramsay Nick Ramsay Conservative 2:40, 17 January 2017

It’s the way you tell them, Cabinet Secretary. Happy new year to you as well.

You would be forgiven for thinking that it was still ‘Blue Monday’ by listening to some of the less than positive questions you’ve received today, Cabinet Secretary. Whilst we accept that many of us would like to see no tolls at all on the Severn crossings, and recognise that that would be a massive benefit to the economy, I think you have to accept that this announcement does represent an improvement on the situation we had before. Motorists crossing those bridges, as a result of this change, will be paying lower tolls than they were, and will therefore have more money in their pockets. So, that must have a positive benefit for businesses. Cabinet Secretary, you’ve been a champion for the metro and electrification. Would you accept that this is another part of the city region jigsaw, as we levy those tolls down? And how are you working with local authorities in the city deal area to make the most of this development and to try and maximise the effect of it for businesses in south-east Wales?

Finally, Presiding Officer, just going back to Jenny Rathbone’s point—a very interesting point, actually—about the effect on traffic flows of lowering the tolls, there is a flip side to the argument that Jenny Rathbone was making, and that is, of course, there are roads surrounding the area of the Severn Crossings, such as in Chepstow, in my constituency, for instance, which actually are carrying a lot of traffic—a lot more than they should—because people are currently avoiding the toll system. So, have you made any assessment, or are you planning to make any assessment, of the effect of reduction in the tolls—to this point now but, hopefully, in the future, even more—and the effect of lower traffic volumes on surrounding roads in areas like Chepstow, and the resulting benefit for pedestrians, motorists and lowering road traffic incidents in those areas, which are currently really having a problem with the levels of traffic that they’re suffering from?