Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the full capital cost of the Severn Bridges and approaches together with interest charges have now been recovered and, if not, what is the outstanding debt and how much longer it will take for this to be repaid with the lower tolls announced on 13 January 2017.

The consultation that the Government launched on 13^th January 2017 sets out that the revenue to be recouped under the current concession will be received by late 2017 or early 2018.

Once the Crossings are back in public ownership, there are costs that will need to be recouped from the proposed lower charges. These include those previously incurred outside of the concession, and future costs such as:

• periodic resurfacing,
• ongoing operating and maintenance costs of the roads and bridge structures,
• and potential costs of introducing free flow charging.

The consultation commits to setting future charges at levels which do no more than cover costs, and to keep the amount charged under review.