PEMBROKESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL has rejected a notice of motion from Cllr Bob Kilmister which called for the council to negotiate with the Welsh Government over the transfer of the Cleddau Bridge.

The matter was discussed at a meeting of the council’s Cabinet on Monday, February 22.

Cllr Kilmister stated that the Council lacked the will to negotiate with the Welsh Government and said it was ludicrous how there was a toll bridge in an Enterprise Zone.

However, Cllr Rob Lewis said that negotiations were currently taking place and added that he was perplexed as to why the notice of motion had come before them.

Cllr Bob Kilmister said: “The purpose of this is to quite clearly on whether we are prepared to stop using the bridge as a cash earner or not.

“The whole argument is about the Chief Financial Officers’ comments in the report. He says: ‘Should ownership of the Cleddau Bridge be transferred to the Welsh Government and the council receives no proceeds from the transfer it would lose net income of £1.9million per annum’.

“Who could disagree with that statement? My notice of motion seeks to negotiate a transfer. It does not specify the terms, they need to be negotiated and frankly I am very confident that this could be achieved with good will on both sides.

“Refusing this simply says that we don’t want to change our position at all. I’m extremely confident that this is a view not shared by the residents of this county. Currently, I think we lack that good will to negotiate. This council has used, over many years, all kinds of smoke and mirrors on this issue. It has, in my opinion, deliberately misled members and the general public because it raises so much income for the council.

“It has ignored the economic considerations or the effect it has had on businesses and residents who use it, often on a daily basis.

“It has been a stealth tax since this council was formed and before. The notional debt issue confused everyone, including the Wales Audit Office, but at last we now have a clear position on that issue.

“If anyone doubts that the tolls on this bridge do not have a detrimental effect on the county’s economy then they are, in my humble opinion, utterly deluded.

“We have a toll bridge in the middle of an Enterprise Zone, frankly it beggars belief.

“We need to negotiate a conclusion to this saga and this seeks to achieve that end.”

Council Leader Jamie Adams said it was not fair to suggest that the running of the Cleddau Bridge was dreamed up by the council.

Cllr Rob Lewis said: “This is something that has taken up quite a lot of council time over the last 18 months. To say that we as an authority have done nothing would be wrong. There has been substantial work carried out by the Economy Task and Finish Group.

“The important thing that we need to be aware of is the current work taking place with the Welsh Government looking at the future of the road network of the area. Cllr Kilmister seems to be asking to do something that we started doing a while ago. This is the process that we need to follow.”

Cllr Sue Perkins said: “I’m sure nobody likes to pay for the Bridge but I think everybody understands that before the bridge it took an hour get round so it is a huge important benefit to the area and once the work has been done Welsh Government could take it over and say we will not charge at all and trunk the road which is something that many people have argued about.

“My concern is that we would not only lose the bridge and the management of it but we could also end up costing a huge amount more for the people of the area. We don’t know but that is the work that needs to be undertaken and this is what we are doing.”

Council Leader Jamie Adams added that the council would, on some occasions, need to draw on the money coming in from the bridge like they had in the past to strengthen the bridge.

Cllr Bob Kilmister said: “The Act of Parliament was very specific saying how the use of funds should be made and there is great doubt that we have actually followed that act.

“My party, the Liberal Democrats, first raised the issue in 1984 with Patrick Jones so to say that this has come out of nowhere so this isn’t the case.

“We have made huge profit out of this bridge over the time of its existence. That is either in the region of either a minimum of £7million and a maximum of £19million. This argument is simply about money.

“We have to negotiate and we haven’t done that in a constructive manner with Welsh Government up to this time and we need to preserve our financial position as best we are able to do that.

“We have a duty to protect and build that economy and at the present moment our actions with the Bridge do not help that to happen and to have a toll bridge in an Enterprise Zone is ludicrous and I cannot understand how that came about.”

The notice of motion from Cllr Kilmister was not adopted.