Daily Post comment: New crossing vital to sustain our business.

MERSEYSIDE has a fight on its hands if it is to get support from the Government for a second river crossing to take some of the pressure off Runcorn Bridge. In the next few months, Whitehall will decide whether to provide backing for the pounds 335m project, either through a private finance initiative, or public sector funding.

It is a huge sum of money, and there is real concern that the Government will say no, despite the authorisation it has just given for London to raise the cash for its latest pounds 380m crossing, the Thames Gateway.

There is understood to be serious reticence in government circles for approving the building of new bridges. They are perceived as expensive and uneconomic projects, and probably not the most vote-catching way of allocating resources.

But the consequences for our regional economy, if a second Mersey crossing project is not authorised, do not bear thinking about. Anyone who has travelled across the Runcorn bridge in recent times, particularly during the vital resurfacing work which has led to 20mph speed limits, will know just how trying an experience it has become. The delays, even at off-peak times, can double the length of local journeys.

But the problem is much more serious than just the massive inconvenience for motorists. The jams also choke vital supply routes for companies like Jaguar and the bio-tech factories which represent such an important element of our economic growth prospects.

Jaguar has already warned the congestion poses a major impediment to achieving further significant investment. It would be tragic if success stories like these for our workforce were to be thwarted from growing to their full potential by an issue which is clearly completely out of their control.