Agenda item

          Council considered a report of the Operational Director, Legal and Democratic Services, regarding the Road User Charging Scheme (RUCSO) for the Mersey Gateway Bridge and the Silver Jubilee Bridge.

          IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED: That Council

1)    Confirm that no further consultation is required in respect of the RUCSO;

2)    Confirm that no public inquiry is required to be held into the making of the RUCSO;

3)    Make the RUCSO in the form (or substantially the same form) as that in Appendix A, attached to the report, and to delegate to the Operational Director, Legal and Democratic Services, the authority to make any non-material or consequential amendments to the RUCSO as are necessary to give it effect;

4)    Resolve that the charging scheme under the RUCSO come into effect on 1 July 2017, subject to the RUCSO being made by the Council (the appointed day);

5)    Resolve that the charging scheme be suspended in full from the appointed day until the date that the Mersey Gateway Bridge is operational and fully open to all traffic (the “permission to Use Date”); and

6)    Authorise the Operational Director, Legal and Democratic Services to take all necessary steps to:-

i)                 bring the RUCSO into effect;

ii)               to suspend the charging scheme until the Permission to Use Date; and

iii)              lift the suspension and impose the charging scheme from the Permission to Use Date.