CHESHIRE residents could pay more to cross the borough's toll bridges, as council chiefs backed a raft of proposed new charges.

Drivers from outside the borough must pay to cross the Mersey Gateway and Silver Jubilee bridges, but Halton residents are able to cross for ‘free’ under a local user discount scheme (LUDS).

But they must still pay an annual ‘admin fee’ of £10. Now the council's ruling executive board has backed increasing that to £12.

But the figure will remain £10 if drivers agree to auto renew their application each year. It is understood the move to incentivise auto-renewals is due to the fact residents who forget to renew each year receive fines if they then cross the bridges but do not pay, with the subsequent processing of appeals resulting in admin costs.

The planned hike comes as borough chiefs signed off the new road user charging scheme order (RUCSO) which will increase tolls by 20 per cent for drivers from outside Halton, taking the price of a single crossing for an unregistered car from £2 to £2.40. Fines for non compliance would also increase from £40 to £50 – reduced to £25 if paid within 14 days.

A project spokesman said: "In order to fund the project over its lifetime, it was always expected that toll charges would need to increase annually in line with inflation, but Halton Borough Council has been able to defer annual increases to minimise costs to motorists.”

He added: “The recommendations set out a forward-looking plan where, if toll charges are increased by around 20 per cent next April, then, barring unforeseen circumstances, they will remain at that level for three years.”

The executive board chose to remove one aspect of the planned changes which would have impacted blue badge holders, with the application process for toll exemptions set to remain as it currently is, pending further discussion.

Under the plans, motorbikes and local buses would still be able to cross the bridges free of charge. Drivers registered with toll operator Merseyflow would continue to receive discounted crossings.

The plans will now go to a six-week public consultation starting in November then to Full Council for approval. If backed, they would come into force from next April.