Pembrokeshire toll bridge to be reviewed after complaint

The way tolls on a Pembrokeshire bridge are managed are to be reviewed after a complaint to a spending watchdog.

It is claimed the accounts for the Cleddau Bridge are confusing, with some showing a loss and others a profit.

Motorists pay 75p - lorry drivers £1.50 - to cross between Pembroke Dock and Neyland. There have been previous calls to scrap the tolls altogether.

The council said it will review both the physical and financial management of the bridge.

The announcement follows a complaint from a member of the public to the Wales Audit Office, which argued that money collected by the council was not being spent in line with rules governing the bridge.

The complaint also suggested that council accounts for the bridge are confusing.

One set of Pembrokeshire council figures for 2013/14 show the bridge operation made a loss of £60.6m.

A second set of figures for the same period suggest the loss was £9.3m.

And a third set of figures state that the council actually made a combined surplus of £17.6m.

Council officials have confirmed to BBC Wales that £60m deficit is in fact a 'notional' loss - and does not actually exist.

The second part of the complaint to auditors is over whether the council should be allowed to make a profit - and where that money should be spent.

Collecting tolls on the Cleddau Bridge is governed by legislation set out by the UK Parliament in the Dyfed Act 1987.

Council leader Jamie Adams said the authority's position was that it can make a profit as long as the funds are used for other transport projects.

However, he accepted that the wording of the 1987 law was unclear.

Mr Adams added: "We've simply followed the example set by our predecessor authority Dyfed.

"Certainly there are different ways to interpret the act which allow for different accounting practices to be undertaken."

The council said it plans to carry out the review of the lifetime cycle of the Cleddau Bridge by the end of March 2016.