Blackburn with Darwen Council has voted to condemn a proposal to place tolls on the M65 motorway.
The controversial proposal to charge motorists to drive on the key motorway route, floated recently by Reform UK’s Cllr Joel Tetlow at Lancashire County Council, envisioned motorists paying anywhere from 50p to £1.50 to pass a stretch of the motorway near Burnley.
Reform UK as a party has since distanced itself from this idea, which was floated during a committee meeting looking at the £15 million needed to fix flooding issues between Junction 10 and 14.
This has caused repeated closures on this section of the route which, due to a historical quirk, is managed by County Hall rather than National Highways.
In addition to angering some in Burnley and Pendle who would bear the brunt of the charges, the proposal has become a hot topic among authorities across East Lancashire.
This included at a Blackburn with Darwen Council forum, where it was pointed out that there is one major reason that the idea of tolling the M65 remains a live question.
The problems caused by the frequent closures on the motorway, including last week’s lorry fire that saw long tailbacks, are something Blackburn’s politicians may one day have to tackle, Cllr Damian Talbot told the council on Thursday (October 1).
In his first full meeting of the council since returning to the backbenches after resigning as executive member for health, Cllr Talbot said: “In moving this motion, I should note that Cllr Matchett, the Reform UK group leader, requested that we withdraw the motion.
“The basis being that Reform colleagues at LCC have subsequently stated they were not considering proposals for a toll between Junctions 10 and 14 on the M65, and Cllr Tetlow has later said that his comments weren’t serious.”
The Labour councillor said this request had been considered, but he believed it should still be discussed so the authority can highlight the worsening congestion on the arterial route and its impact on residents and the local economy.
“The case for investment could not be clearer,” Cllr Talbot said of the £15m required to fix the drainage issues.
He added: “But I would say that introducing tolls certainly would not help and would without a doubt increase traffic on the wider network.”
Cllr Talbot also stated why it was important to make the authority’s position on tolls clear, ahead of a major shake-up.
Although now paused, the local government reorganisation scheme would have seen Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn, Rossendale, Burnley, and Pendle councils rolled into one ‘Pennine Lancashire’ authority – which would assume responsibility for this part of the motorway from then-defunct Lancashire County Council.
“In the event of local government reorganisation, it is perfectly possible that we will be part of a council responsible for the section of the motorway in question.
"So we say now this council should make clear its opposition to any tolls on the M65 and to making people and motorists in East Lancashire pay extra to get around in our area,” he added.
Responding to the Labour motion, Reform UK group leader Cllr Daniel Matchett said: “I’ve never known a council chamber go so off a motion until I got elected here.
"It’s good to see that we’re getting closer and closer to the borough with every motion that Labour tables.
“The last one was from a different country; now we’ve got to Junction 10 of the M65, we’re nearly there, we might actually discuss something that’s in the borough.”
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Cllr Matchett said that he could raise the issue with his colleagues at Lancashire County Council, but pointed out that Reform’s representatives in Preston had already shot down the proposal.
He added: “We will not be voting to condemn our own party for something that has already been ruled out.
"We will not vote against the resolution opposing tolls, but we will abstain.”
Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, Cllr Phil Riley, called on Blackburn MP Adnan Hussain to speak with the Government about taking over ownership of the problem section of the M65, and echoed Cllr Talbot’s concerns about the future responsibility for the route.
Cllr Riley said: “If we’d have carried on in the world of LGR then that section of motorway would have fallen into the area of the Pennine unitary authority, and that would be a pretty substantial financial challenge.”
Emphasising that ownership of the road is the root of the problem, the council leader added: “It’s illogical, and if it were to drop into the area of the Pennine unitary, it would be very difficult for us to support.”
The motion ‘Investing in East Lancashire Motorway Infrastructure’, to condemn the toll plan and urge the Government to tackle the M65’s congestion issues, was passed with no objections, and nine abstentions from the Reform group.
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