Last Friday I had a briefing with the Tamar Tolls management about the future financing of the crossings.

The Torpoint ferry was brought under the same management when the bridge was built by Plymouth City Council and Cornwall County Council. The two councils formed a joint management committee which run the day to day operations and the two authorities have the ultimate responsibility for the bridge as the owners of the bridge.

When the government granted the councils the permission to build the bridge they did set a maximum toll in legislation to protect the users of the bridge as it is an important piece of the national infrastructure. Being a regular user of the bridge myself I have a number of concerns about this bridge.

I have been concerned about the amount of money that has been spent as part of the bridge such as the amount spent on the new offices. I am also concerned that the bridge is not making full use of its assets such as the land that it owns, the opportunity to use its assets to sell further services to the public and marketing opportunities for businesses.

I know from knocking on doors that many share my concerns. Many are also concerned about the cost of the tolls and this was the main reason for the meeting with the Members of Parliament because of that lack of ability to just raise the tolls.

Following the meeting I now plan to meet with the new Roads Minister, Guy Opperman MP and raise the issues around the bridge in Parliament. I do not want to see further toll increases at this difficult time and I am looking for government help but I am also looking at the Councils to reduce their costs and to focus on their core business of providing the crossings.

I also raised the introduction of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) to allow the free flow of traffic by removing the need for toll booths. I will keep readers updated on how discussions progress.

At the weekend I knocked on doors in Duloe before attending their bake sale for a piece of cake and a coffee with my team. I like to join local communities at these charity events if my schedule allows as they raise much needed funds for local charities and facilities.

I also attended the Christmas Fair in The Rifle Volunteer pub in St Anne’s Chapel. Many of our pubs host local events and bring their communities together. The ‘Pub is the hub’ campaign has been promoting this for many years and it is great to see it in action.

It certainly was beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Torpoint on Saturday evening. There was a number of stalls and a main stage entertaining crowds at Sparrow Park.

I also went up to Callington for the Kelliwik Golowi roughly translated as illuminate Callington which was an impressive parade with torches and lights to brighten up the now dark nights. There was music, dance and I was particularly impressed by the young local people who were quite literally dancing with fire. I was so pleased that it stayed dry for them.

I would like to thank all those involved across the area of South East Cornwall involved in organising the many events now taking place as we move nearer to Christmas.

They are really enjoyable and certainly bring communities together judging by the huge crowds in both Torpoint and Callington.