Warburton Toll Bridge: Public inquiry for toll increase plans

Peel wants to increase the bridge toll to £1

Controversy over plans to hike the cost of crossing a key toll bridge will go to a public inquiry.

Owner Peel wants to raise the price of using the Warburton Toll Bridge from 12p to £1 to pay for improvement works.

But Warrington's two MPs and the two councils which the bridge spans, Trafford and Warrington, have objected to the plans.

An inquiry has now been scheduled for November after the plans were first announced last year.

The bridge, first built in 1863, is the only route across the River Mersey and Manchester Ship Canal between the M6 and M60.

Peel has had to apply to the government to raise the price through a Transport and Works Act order.

The order also includes provisions for Peel to make new byelaws related to the bridge.

Warburton Toll Bridge

• The only route across the River Mersey and Manchester Ship Canal between the M6 and M60

• Links the villages of Rixton in Warrington, Cheshire to the north, with Warburton in Trafford, Greater Manchester to the south

• Created after the passing of the Rixton and Warburton Toll Bridge Act 1863, which gave the Manchester Ship Canal Company the right to build the bridge and then charge those crossing it

• Originally cost one person on horseback or in a cart 1p (the equivalent of 18p today) to cross

In submissions prepared ahead of the inquiry, Warrington South Conservative MP Andy Carter and Warrington North MP, Labour's Charlotte Nichols, agreed that the bridge needed improvements.

But the MPs disagree with the price hike and insist the cost should be paid for by Peel.

Mr Carter said the company had "repeatedly failed to undertake regular repairs" and that the level of investment now required "should not be placed on local residents".

They also raise concerns about allowing Peel to make new byelaws.

Ms Nichols described the proposals as "sweeping changes" and said her constituents believed they were "a clear over-reach of power".

Peel said increasing the toll to £1 would be the "lowest reasonable toll rate which would enable the necessary works to the bridge to be carried out".

It added it would be a "considerable risk" if the bridge further deteriorated and it may need to be restricted on safety grounds.