Hi Neighbours,

Believe me, I have written my objections to all parties, i.e., Secretary of State for Transport, Whitchurch Toll Bridge Proprietors and John Howell MP.

Outrageous, unscrupulous gluttony!

Fine, but did you object to there being any toll at all? About 97% of other road bridges within the British road system are non-toll. Many of the system’s road bridges started as private toll bridges but were subsequently taken over by the State or County and the tolls abolished. The retention of tolls on the Whitchurch and Swinford (also in Oxfordshire) bridges is unfair to users while the great majority of motorists using other British bridges pay no tolls at all, and avoid the stop/start of a toll bridge which can cause congestion.

Thank you David.

…. You bet! …. All of the above included.

as far as i can see the only thing that motivates the bridge company is money so maybe the time has now come for organised days of non usage of the bridge. I know this might prove inconvenient and in some ways more costly for everyone in the short term but the long term repercussions of continued increasing tolls will cost everyone more eventually.

Thoughts ???

Reading the WBC statement regarding the discontinuation of regular meetings with the 4 local councils it does appear that WBC will still have contact with Pangbourne Council to discuss the use of Pangbourne Meadow during bridge re-construction. Maybe this is an avenue that could be persued ? Why should local residents, and in particular Pangbourne Council tax payers have to forego part of the meadow useage purely to make re-building a private bridge easier and no doubt cheaper for a private company t hat does not give a damn for them. Perhaps the lobbying of Pangbourne Council directly and by the other local councils to refuse the WBC access to Pangbourne Meadow for construction is a way to show WBC that they can not just disregard public opinion in the cavalier fashion that they seem to have adopted ???