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Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust - Consultation on Proposed Toll Increases

Public Consultation - Autumn 2025

Overview

The Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust is a charity run by a group of Trustees (volunteers). They manage the maintenance and upkeep of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s iconic structure to keep this road crossing the Avon Gorge open for the use of the public. The only income received to do this is from the toll paid by vehicles crossing the bridge.

This toll is used to employ the bridge master, staff and attendants as well as maintain this 160-year-old bridge. The trust is acknowledged as a worldwide exemplar of how to maintain and run this type of heritage asset and we have a duty to maintain the bridge ‘in proper repair and working order’.

The toll was last increased in 2014 when it was set at £1. Since then, rising inflation, construction costs, updated health and safety requirements, wage increases, climate change (how the bridge deals with stronger winds) and increased weight of traffic have affected and will affect the cost of maintaining the bridge.

The Trustees’ strategy is to set tolls at a level that not only covers the bridge’s day-to-day running costs but also builds up funds to pay for future major refurbishment and structural maintenance projects. The Trustees have determined that the toll needs to be increased to ensure the continued operation and maintenance of the bridge. It is therefore proposed that the toll is increased to £1.50 from January 2027 (to reflect inflation since 2014) and, from then on, be increased annually in line with inflation.

Please refer to the full consultation document for more details of the Trust’s proposals and supporting information - https://cliftonbridge.org.uk/toll-consultation
Your feedback
Once you’ve had a chance to consider the information provided on the website and/or the full consultation document, we would like your views on the planned increase in the toll, as well as the proposed mechanism for future increases and how these are calculated. All questions are optional but please answer as many questions as you can.

The deadline for submitting your comments is Friday 7 November 2025.
About you

Please provide the following details
1.How often do you travel across the Clifton Suspension Bridge?
2.How do you usually travel across the Clifton Suspension Bridge?
3.If you travel across the Bridge by vehicle, do you use a pre-paid Clifton Suspension Bridge Card?
4.What is your full postcode?
5.Do you represent a group or organisation? If so, please specify:
Quick survey
6.Do you understand why the bridge toll for vehicles needs to be increased to £1.50 from January 2027?
7.Do you agree that future increases to the toll for vehicles should be linked to inflation to reflect rising costs in the future ?
(see Appendix 10, Section 4 at p53 of the consultation document)
8.Do you have any comments or suggestions?
Additional questions

If you would like to provide more detailed responses, please continue.

If not, please go to Q16 to complete your survey response.
9.Do you support the proposed use of the Office for National Statistics Construction Output index (All New Work, Repair and Maintenance) as the applicable inflation index?
(see Appendix 10, Section 4.15 at p55 of the consultation document)
10.Do you agree that the annual increase to the toll for vehicles should be 0.5% below the rate of inflation, as proposed by the Trust?
(see Appendix 10, Section 4.9 at p54 of the consultation document)
11.Do you agree that the traffic forecast assumptions made by the Trust are appropriate?
(see Appendix 9 at p48 of the consultation document)
12.Do you agree with the modelling assumptions used within the Trust’s income and cost forecast model?
(see Appendix 11 at page 56 of the consultation document)
13.Do you agree with the Trust’s financial projections relating to costs and income and related assumptions?
(see section 5 at page 15, Appendix 12 at page 57, and Appendix 13 at page 59 of the consultation document)
14.Do you have any other comments regarding the Trust’s proposals and this consultation, including the alternatives considered and discounted by the Trust?
15.Are there any other options that you think should be considered (e.g. charging pedestrians/cyclists; reducing discounts for frequent users/bridge card holders; removing concessions)?
16.Overall, to what extent do you support the Trust’s proposals?
Thank you for participating in this survey. If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact Avril Baker Consultancy on 0117 977 2002 or email info@abc-pr.co.uk

If you are completing this survey on paper, please return it by hand to Clifton Suspension Bridge Musuem, Clifton Library, Central Library or Pill Library, or by post to Avril Baker Consultancy at 126 Somerset Road, Bristol BS4 2JB.

If you want to keep up to date with this project and other news relating to Clifton Suspension Bridge, please visit cliftonbridge.org and subscribe to the mailing list via the 'Keep in touch' section at the bottom of the home page.