§ Mr. Roy HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement about his discussions with the Humber Bridge Authority concerning the settlement of their debt.
§ Mr. Peter BottomleyI met representatives of the Humber bridge board on 18 November 1987 to discuss their proposals for dealing with the outstanding debt. They proposed that tolls, which were lower in real terms than when the bridge opened, should be increased and that their value should be maintained in real terms in the future. I said that the Government would be prepared to write off so much of the accumulated debt as could not reasonably be recovered from realistictolls. The board confirmed on 2 December that tolls would be increased with effect from 1 January 1988 to the maxima permitted by the Humber Bridge Tolls Order 1979 Confirmation Instrument 1980 (SI 1980 No. 1137) and that the board would also promote a new tolls order to authorise the further increases they had proposed.
The proportion of bridge debt to be written off will be determined once the outcome of the procedures for making the Order is known. The amount will depend on projection of income and expenditure prepared at that time.