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20
Mar
Aldwark Bridge inquiry ends early due to 'lack of interest'
The public inquiry into the proposed fee increase to cross Aldwark Bridge wrapped up two days early this week after fewer people than expected turned up to speak.
The inquiry at the Galtres Centre in Easingwold had been due to start on Tuesday and end on Friday, but instead it concluded on Wednesday, with only a handful of members of the public attending.
A source close to the process said:
There just wasn’t a lot of interest in speaking, even though it was advertised quite widely.
There was even an evening session offered, but no-one took it up.
The privately-owned Aldwark Toll Bridge is the only remaining toll bridge in Yorkshire, and crucially, the only road crossing of the River Ure between Boroughbridge and York.
The toll is currently 40p to cross the bridge, but Aldwark Bridge Ltd, which is owned by The Westwick Group – a company headed by Derbyshire-based businessman Alex Bell – intends to raise the bridge toll for motorists to £1.
Mr Bell says the increase is necessary to make the bridge economically viable. He has spent £1 million on refurbishing the structure and making it safe, addressing a long list of defects discovered by engineers, and says the increase is needed to help meet running costs.
He also argues that paying £1 to cross the bridge is cheaper than making the 22-mile detour to avoid it.
Nevertheless, the proposal to increase the fee drew objections from many local residents, some of whom have called it “extortionate”, so the Department for Transport called the public inquiry to assess whether the toll increase would be fair.
Parish council gives evidence
On Tuesday – the first day of the inquiry – Aldwark Area Parish Council presented its evidence objecting to the increase, and Aldwark Bridge Ltd gave its evidence for the toll rise.
The two sides then submitted their rebuttals to the evidence just heard, and Mr Bell was cross-examined by John Topliss, chair of the parish council.
Cllr Topliss's view is that a toll increase is "probably justified", but not by the amount proposed.
He told the Stray Ferret:
A lot of people can probably afford £1, and will continue to use the bridge. But there will be some people who are much more financially affected, such as people with children at school on the other side of the river, and for them the increase will have a far more serious impact.
Stephen Windass, technical director at Beverley-based consultancy Local Transport Projects, gave evidence about the numbers of vehicles crossing the bridge, and its impact on local service provision.
On the second – and, as it turned out, final – day of the inquiry, Scott Sanderson, partner at Sheffield-based accountancy firm Hawsons, gave financial evidence supporting the bridge company’s argument.
The inquiry then viewed the bridge in person, before closing statements were made on Wednesday afternoon by Aldwark Bridge Ltd and Aldwark Area Parish Council.
Alex Bell at the re-opening of Aldwark Bridge last year. Image: ITV.
Asked how he felt the process had gone, Mr Bell told the Stray Ferret:
You never know, do you? I felt we could answer all the questions put to us and could demonstrate our case. But obviously, the inspector has to consider both sides and come to a balanced view.
I was surprised by the almost complete lack of interest in the inquiry, though. I thought more people would come.
But Cllr Topliss said there had been no lack of interest, and that the inquiry had only finished two days earlier than planned because more time had been allotted to it than was needed.
He said:
When you look at the number of objections, it’s well into three figures, so there is a lot of interest.
Inquiries can be very intimidating, and a lot of people aren’t prepared to speak because it means they can be cross-examined, and that’s quite a daunting position to be in.
The reason the parish council has led on this is that we can capture all the objections and express them collectively, with one voice.
The inspector will now write a report – probably by the end of April – and submit it to the Secretary of State for a decision.
It is not known when that decision might come. Mr Bell said he thought it would be “during the course of this year”, and Cllr Topliss said he saw no reason why it should not be annnounced in May or June, before Parliament breaks up for the summer recess in July.
Even though the inquiry failed to draw many attendees, the case has attracted attention on social media, with opinion divided on the issue.
Some posters on the Facebook page of Wetherby and Easingwold Conservative MP Sir Alec Shelbrooke – a vocal opponent of the toll hike – suggested that the bridge be taken into public ownership, but when the Stray Ferret asked Mr Bell about that possibility, he said:
The bridge was offered to the local authority a couple of times before we owned it, but they refused to take it on. There’s just no interest from the council at all.
The Stray Ferret has contacted Aldwark Area Parish Council for comment.
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