Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee - 13 March 2026

Name: Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee — 2026-03-13
Start: 2026-03-13
Location: Cornwall Council, County Hall

Tamar Bridge and Torpoint Ferry Joint Committee·2026-03-13

View original minutes on ModernGov

Key Takeaways

•Minutes from December 2025 and January 2026 Joint Committee meetings were approved and signed by the Chairman.
•A business case for the visitor centre and environmental impact assessment will be provided to Members after the ongoing public consultation is completed.
•The Joint Committee's Terms of Reference will be updated for the first time since 2021, with Members asked to provide comments and suggestions.
•Four public questions were received regarding toll costs, differential tolling, local residency definitions, and revenue capture from un-tolled crossings, with written responses to be provided after the meeting.
•National Highways civil works on the Saltash Tunnel have been completed, with electronic signage testing underway and full project completion expected by October 2026.

AI-Generated Summary

This summary was generated by AI and may contain errors. Read the full minutes for the official record.

The Joint Committee confirmed that there were no declarations of interest and formally approved the minutes of its previous meetings on 5 December 2025 and 12 January 2026, with both resolutions moved by Councillor Candy and seconded by Councillor Pascoe and Councillor Parsonage respectively. An officer briefed members on four pending items: the visitor‑centre business case, which will be finalised after the current public consultation; the completion of an environmental‑impact assessment; a copy of a letter sent on 26 February 2026 to the Secretary of State for Transport concerning an Infrastructure Revenue Grant; and a future meeting with local MPs that will be scheduled after a response to the grant request is received.

The Joint Chair (Plymouth) rearranged the agenda, swapping the Public Questions item with Chairman’s Announcements to ensure relevant information was presented together. She also highlighted that the Committee’s Terms of Reference have not been updated since 2021 and invited members to review them and submit comments by a deadline to be announced. Due to a change in proportional seat allocations, Councillor Nicholson will no longer represent Plymouth City Council on the Committee, and she thanked her for her service. A technical error that omitted the public‑question deadline from the agenda was acknowledged; consequently, late‑submitted questions were accepted, and an exception was made for one participant who had already reached the annual limit of two questions.

Four public questions were raised during the session. Mr Miller in clarification on how users would choose between cost options with unquantified impacts; Mrs Slavin asked for revenue figures from non‑local tag accounts and for a definition of “local” to improve eligibility and reduce administrative costs; Mr Dyer inquired whether a majority support for differential tolling in the consultation would lead to the abolition of the ferry concession rate; and Mr Slavin sought data on the number of untolled crossings and possible revenue capture. The Joint Chair confirmed that written responses to each question will be provided after the meeting.

Operational updates included