A "SIGNIFICANT cut" could be made to Severn Bridge tolls once the bridges are returned to public ownership according to Monmouth MP David Davies.

At a recent Westminster Hall debate, the chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee calculated that a toll of £1.50 for cars would be enough to pay for the ongoing cost of maintaining both the bridges if, as expected, the ownership of the bridges switches to the state in 2017.

Severn River Crossing PLC currently owns the bridges where the toll for a car now stands at £5.70. For heavy goods vehicles it is £17.20.

The MP said he had reached the calculation due to the current annual revenue from all the tolls being around £76million a year. The current cost of maintaining the bridges is £15million.

He said: "I therefore estimate – and this is purely a back of the envelope calculation – that it would be feasible to levy the toll at about £1.50 and still be able to maintain both bridges."

He added: "Of course, it is likely that, in addition the government would have to put aside some extra money to cover the possibility of major renovations in the future but there is plenty of room for a significant cut."

The MP added that the Severn Bridges was the main issue brought up in constituency surgeries and pubs in Monmouthshire and said if the toll continued at a high rate, it would be "a tax on the people of south Wales".