A CAMPAIGN group has repeated calls for Mersey Tunnel tolls to be scrapped after a decision was made to freeze the price for another year.

Metro mayor Steve Rotheram's plan, part of his budget for the upcoming year, was approved during a meeting of Liverpool City Region Combined Authority's Transport Committee on Thursday.

The price of a single fast-tag journey through the Kingsway or Queensway tunnels is currently £1 for those living in the city region and will also remain at that level for the coming year.

Campaign group Scrap Mersey Tolls described the tunnel toll as unfair.

Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: "Over the past decade, our region has been hit hard by austerity, with local government and local people bearing the brunt of government cuts.

"In spite of this, I'm optimistic about the future and the opportunities devolution gives us to make our own decisions for the benefit of local people.

"From investing tens of millions in local schools and colleges, improving our transport infrastructure and providing £75m to support local business, to our UK-leading Housing First pilot to tackle homelessness and our Households into Work scheme to support families with generational unemployment, helping local people has been the driving force behind everything we do.

"And there is more to come.

"This year, we’ll be launching our state-of-the-art, publicly owned trains for the Merseyrail network, announcing plans to improve our bus network and moving forward with our ambitious Mersey Tidal Power project, which will harness the River Mersey for clean, green sustainable energy.

"But in recognition of continued authority I also want to help ease the burden on local taxpayers in the year ahead, which is why I'm freezing tunnel tolls and the council tax precept for city region residents."

John McGoldrick for Scrap Mersey Tolls said: "It is unfair that drivers have to pay any tolls on top of road and fuel taxes, but it is far worse when they charge higher than needed tolls and use the profits to pay for other things including their new Swiss built trains.

"The authority obscures what is happening by failing to publish full budgets or accounts for the Tunnels, but it seems that of the £40 million expected tolls income this year over £16million of it will be profits.

"The authority and the Mayor have said that they have been pressing the Government to take the Tunnels into the National Highways Network.

"As long as our local politicians seem to be content to profit from the tolls on the Tunnels and to toll and penalise the users of the Gateway and the Silver Jubilee bridges, there is no chance that any Government will remove the tolls."