PLANS to freeze Mersey Tunnel tolls for the next financial year are likely to be approved after being cleared by a key committee.

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Transport Committee endorsed plans to freeze the tolls during a meeting on Wednesday, paving the way for them to be approved later this month.

The plans would see Mersey Tunnel Tolls for City Region residents remain at £1 for those using a Fast Tag and £1.80 for those paying by cash or contactless.

Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram announced plans to freeze tunnel tolls, the mayoral precept and the transport levy, all key ways the combined authority raises money, last week.

However, he warned that the combined authority would have to make difficult financial decisions in the coming year, with much of the scale of the economic fallout from the pandemic still not fully known.

He said local authorities had also suffered lost revenue and had not received the financial support from government that they were originally promised.

Metro Mayor Rotheram said: "Despite our strong representations to the Government, the funding to cover these shortfalls has not yet been forthcoming, so it seems likely that councils will have no choice but to increase council tax just to survive.

"In this context I – and the leaders of our six Local Authorities – do not think it would be right to add to the burden on household budgets by increasing the Metro Mayoral council tax precept or tunneltolls at this time.

"However, it is vital that we continue to provide crucial city region-wide services, such as strategic transport, skills and economic development, if we are to emerge stronger from the pandemic in the coming year.

“Through careful management and use of reserves we are able to achieve this in our 2021-22 budget.

“But this does not mean there will not be tough choices to come in the near future.

“Unless the Government makes good on its promise to fund ‘whatever it takes’ to tackle Covid, our budgets – particularly for our transport services – will not be sustainable at this level in the long term.”

A report to the transport committee said that the unknowns of the pandemic meant officers felt it was preferable to freeze the tolls for the moment.

The report said: “One key issue Members must be aware of is the pandemic is on-going and it is increasingly difficult to predict the economic and social impacts of the pandemic.

“Changes to the Mersey Tunnels tolls may have unplanned impacts during the pandemic, so it is suggested no change to current actual tolls is considered until the social and economic impacts are better understood.”

The report showed traffic levels in the tunnel had plummeted last year.

Tolls were removed from the tunnels from the first lockdown but have now been reinstated.

The combined authority will agree its budget for the next financial year on Friday, January 22.