Debt history
Due to construction delay, cost overruns and higher than anticipated inflation, the initial debt was much higher than expected by the time the bridge opened. While the bridge has always maintained an operating profit before interest, in the early years, this profit was insufficient to cover interest payments. So these were capitalised and the debt continued to grow.
In 1998, with the total debt around £360 million, the project was re-financed by the Government. A total of £62m of debt was written off. Other amounts were suspended (now reinstated), and a payment plan was put in place to pay off the debt by 2032. This required toll increases every two years, in line with inflation. The rate of interest on the remaining debt was reduced from 12 per cent to 7.75 per cent. But in 2006 the Humber Bridge Board approached the Government. The board said the debt would be unmanageable from 2007. A lower interest rate, the equivalent of 4.25 per cent on the debt outstanding, was placed on the debt for 2006-2011. In 2011, this rate will be reviewed or reverted to the previously agreed rate of 7.75 per cent.
By 2008, the debt stood at £333 million. While Government intervention in 1998 to restructure and write off part of the debt on the Humber Bridge has been welcomed, this has not addressed the very high tolls. It is the high tolls that are seen as unfair. It is the high tolls, the highest for any bridge crossing in the UK that mean the two banks operate largely as separate communities. This is despite the towns of Grimsby and Scunthorpe and the City of Hull being no more than 45 minutes apart by car.
The council has worked closely with the business community and with the other three unitary councils in the Humber area - neighbouring North East Lincolnshire, Hull City and East Riding of Yorkshire councils - to lobby for action on the actual tolls individuals and businesses have to pay to cross the bridge.
Research commissioned by the Humber Bridge Board has shown that approximately 80 per cent of toll income is paid by individuals and businesses based within the four council areas.
The Humber area is the only City Region divided by a tolled crossing with charges levied at such a high level – yet the Humber area suffers from high levels of unemployment, low incomes and worklessness.
It has only been over the last couple of years there has been any confidence that progress on the tolls was a realistic possibility.
Local government, including during the period of county Humberside - 1974 to 1996 - has consistently argued for action on the tolls. In January 2008, the No 10 Downing Street website received over 8,400 names calling for the tolls to be reduced to a level that simply covered the running costs of the Humber Bridge.
So what's changed?
First, the four councils decided, after much debate, they needed to do more as a group to argue the case and present the evidence. And second, the Government itself made clear it wanted to see the creation of what is called the Hull and Humber Ports City Region, with the four councils and the their economies working as one to raise prosperity levels and work closely with the private sector.
The Government has made clear it wants to see a successful and dynamic Hull and Humber Ports City Region, with both banks coming together economically and socially as one.
The four councils also want to work closer together and with the private sector, and with northern Lincolnshire having the largest development site in north of England it makes sense to do so. The South Humber Gateway, at nearly four square miles, has the potential to create over 10,000 new jobs over the next 10 years. But it is essential this is opened up for the benefit of both banks. Yet, as things stand with the absurdly high tolls in place, this is unlikely to be the case.
It is this kind of frustration that has given an added impetus to the campaign for action on the tolls.