Tales Along The Thames

Doubling a toll from 20p to 40p to cross Whitchurch bridge may not sound bank-breaking, but local residents protesting against this planned tariff increase argue that daily users would be forking out nearly £300 a year.

Not happy: Colin Cooper and MP Martin Salter

However, Geoff Weir, secretary of the Whitchurch Bridge Company, claims that the 20p extra is necessary to pay for the reconstruction of the Grade II listed bridge, which will cost £3.2 million.

He told BBC Berkshire: "We've put aside money over many years to reconstruct the bridge. What has caused this latest increase is the fact that the construction costs have risen quite sharply over the last five years."

Mr Weir says that approximately 6000 cars a day cross the bridge, and that the company takes about £280,000 a year in toll revenue.

But out of that rich sum he says that there a lot of overheads to pay.

"We've got to pay the staff, we've got to pay the manager, we've got to pay electricity utilities, we've got to maintain the bridge and the toll house."

Colin Cooper from local campaign group Toll Freeze doesn't buy that argument.

Whitchurch Bridge Company secretary Geoff Weir

He says: "It (the toll) has gone up significantly supposedly to renew the bridge, and it does need renewing, but also because the toll bridge company want to make a significant amount more money out of this.

"Their dividends have gone up 60 per cent in the last three years, just at the time when they say they're short of money to rebuild the bridge. It makes no sense."

Reading West MP Martin Salter backs the local campaigners, and has joined forces with newly elected Henley-on-Thames MP John Howell. They've written a joint letter to the Secretary of State for Transport asking for a public inquiry.

"There are only two toll bridges left on the River Thames and in my view that's two too many," says the Reading MP.

"I can understand raising tolls for something new like a new bridge over the River Severn or a new section of the M6 to bypass Birmingham, but this is effectively a main road that unites two communities, it's been here for hundreds of years.

Mr Cooper also points out that amenities are either on the Whitchurch side or the Pangbourne side.

"Banks, GPs and the railway station are on the Pangbourne side while schools are on the Whitchurch side," he says.

Paying the toll at Whitchurch

"A lot of people with young kids at school, they go across three or four times a day. That's getting on for a £1000 a year."

Both Mr Cooper and Mr Salter claim that levying a toll in today's world is "anachronistic".

Mr Salter says: "I would question why in this day and age we've still got toll bridges, they lead to traffic congestion, and they put an unecessary burden on a community that is effectively divided here."

However company boss Mr Weir says: "(Building) bridges were quite a challenge in those days, so a company was formed by act of parliament to build this bridge. The company is a private company which operates the bridge, and that's where we are now.

"It might seem anachronistic nowadays, but that's the way it is."

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For a history of Whitchurch Bridge, click here: