McLaren_Field wrote:
I think its much simpler than that, I think its an idea to float in the media to see if there is a positive or negative reaction to it, I think its all been generated by one or more of the large road construction companies lobbying for any desperate way to find some future projects because at the moment there is nothing at all on the horizon for them except for maintenance.
You can imagine the CEO of one of those companies planting the seed of an idea that they will pay for the roads if they can benefit from the tolls, no hard facts or figures yet just some wishful thinking that will probably result in those companies requiring a subsidy or underwriting of such a mammoth project so that they themselves are not exposed to ruin, and then the whole thing will quietly fade from memory.
i.e. A small, late stimulus with the appearance of no taxpayers money going into it (ignoring the fact that same taxpayers will have to pay a toll later on).
We've been here before, with the Isle of Skye road bridge.
No change in Conservative thinking there then ... same old, same old.