Greens oppose end to road tolls

The Journal

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The Scottish Parliament's move to abolish tolls on the Forth and Tay Bridges has been backed by the Scottish Parliament's transport commitee.

The SNP had laid out in their manifesto a plan to remove the charge of £1 to use the Forth Bridge and 80p to cross the Tay Bridge, in a move that would cost the Scottish goverment about £87 million over the next four years.

The bill itself was supported by all parties except the Greens.

A projected increase in traffic levels has caused concern about the impact on the environment.

Green MSP, Patrick Harvie voiced his dissent against a majority of the transport committee who backed the move, and felt unable to support the bill due to the "negative environmental impact."

He said: "The majority of our committee agrees with the Scottish government's proposals to remove the tolls on the Forth and Tay Bridges, given that Fife is the only part of Scotland which routinely faces this cost.

"However, our committee is concerned that the removal of the toll on both the Forth and Tay bridges will result in a negative environmental impact, particularly in terms of CO2 emissions.

"We also accept that increased congestion and longer journey times are expected as a removal of tolls."

He continued: "We have therefore strongly recommended in our report that measures are put in place in an effort to mitigate the extent of these negative effects."

The committee thought that steps should be taken by the Scottish government to reduce the traffic impact by encouraging the use of buses, rail and cycling.

The Green party report said that about 1,000 jobs would be created in Fife with the abolition of tolls, but noted that there could be a negative effect for businesses caused by the increased congestion.

Stewart Stevenson, Transport Minister, believes that it is "unfair and unacceptable" that the two road bridges in and out of Fife were the only remaining toll bridges in Scotland.

He hopes that the tolls will be removed as soon as legislation allows it, and said that the Scottish government would '"continue to address" the congestion situation.

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