NORTH East Lincolnshire Council last night backed a deal to halve the Humber Bridge tolls.

All 38 councillors present at a special council meeting voted to ratify the agreement reached last week which will see the authority take on 25 per cent of the bridge’s outstanding £182 million debt.

As reported, council leader Chris Shaw agreed to the settlement after gaining assurances from the secretary of state for transport, Justine Greening, that the risk to council tax payers was lower than previously feared.

Mr Shaw had previously argued for the debt to be split between the four Humber authorities according to population – an arrangement which would have seen NELC shouldering around 18 per cent.

His negotiating position was given almost unanimous support at the last full council meeting in December, and therefore his subsequent decision to accept a 25 per cent share had to come back to full council for approval.

Mr Shaw told last night’s meeting that Ms Greening had said the government would withdraw its offer to write off £150-million of the bridge’s £332-million debt unless the four Humber authorities split the outstanding debt equally.

He said: “We have got a way forward that gives us not the best deal, but the best deal we could have got in the circumstances.”

Earlier in the meeting, Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors had criticised the Conservatives for calling the special meeting, saying it was unnecessary as an agreement had now been reached over the share of the debt.

However, it was revealed that the deadline for submissions to the government is Tuesday, two days before the next full council meeting.

Councillor Keith Brookes, leader of the Conservative group on the council, whose original motion proposed that the council be prepared to take on a 25 per cent share of the debt, said: “We will rise above the politics and we will support what has been proposed this evening, but I don’t think the public will be very impressed by the squabbling that has gone on tonight.”