I WANTED to start this column by stating my commitment to abolishing the Tamar Tolls.

I reiterated that stance during the recent meeting of the Tamar Bridge and Ferry Joint Committee on which I sit as a councillor, one of five each for Cornwall Council and Plymouth City Council.

Abolishing tolls, however, requires an Act of Parliament, which requires MPs to persuade government to legislate, or both councils to fund it.

Since I joined the committee, I’ve attended several informal meetings, looking around the bridge, ferry, visitor centre and offices, as well as detailed finance briefings. I’ve been impressed by the new chief officer, Philip Robinson, who took up his post in August and is committed to cutting costs.

Whilst the cost of tags is free when you pay £30 to set up the account, the cost of administration of the accounts and free replacements, set at 80p per month in 2014, has increased dramatically, with the latest budget showing tags costing over £369,000 next year.

The staff costs to administer the scheme have increased over the last 11 years, as there are now 90,000 tag accounts, during which time there has been no increase in the account fee.

I intended to ask if those with ten or more tags could be charged £5 to cover the extra administration costs but struggled to express myself clearly. I was thinking that might allow the fee for those with one or two tags to only increase to £1.20, in line with inflation. However, I was told this would be costly to monitor. Note some organisations have more than 50 tags on one account, but still only pay 80p per month.

I don’t want to see any cost increases, but even with a £2 account fee, you only need to cross 16 times per year in a car or twice per year in a lorry to benefit from the discount. It also means the 30 per cent of people crossing the bridge who don’t use a tag, don’t end up subsidising those who benefit from the 50 per cent discount.

Only one councillor did not vote to accept the report, which has to be approved by both councils.

There has rightly been a public backlash against the fee increase, which I understand, but until the MPs get the bridge toll free, there is no alternative to balancing the books, so write to your MP.

On a personal note, my health is not good, as I suffered from flu in November, then bronchitis. This has meant I’ve not been on top of my work as a councillor, but I am used to carrying on, as I did when farming.

Today I went to the doctors, and was reminded that, as an advocate of being open about poor mental health, and fundraiser for Cornwall Mind, I should not just keep working when suffering from ill health, stress and depression. As a result, I won’t be attending meetings until I improve and have put a “slow response due to ill health” autoreply on emails.