WIRRAL council leader Cllr Steve Foulkes has warned that local authority resources will not be diverted to support controversial proposals by the Mersey Tunnel Users Association, which they claim, would release the full potential of the cross-river link.

The MTUA has responded to the recent House of Lords decision not to block the Mersey Tunnels Bill - which gives Merseytravel powers to use revenue from higher tolls for other transport schemes across Merseyside - with a series of proposals including tunnel free travel on Sundays; no increase in peak tolls, but off-peak toll reductions; and toll-free travel for buses.

The watchdog group anticipates that the cost of introducing the measures could be met from operating surpluses.

But Cllr Foulkes insisted: "I am quite clear that council tax payers - many of whom have never been through the tunnel - should not be asked to pay more in to support the tunnels. I am concerned that if the MTUA's propositions don't add up, we could be called on to make up the shortfall, as the Merseytravel budget is funded through council tax payers"

Cllr Foulkes also expressed concern about the impact of the moves on Wirral's retail centres.

He said: "The attraction of free tunnels on a Sunday might make more shoppers think of shopping in Liverpool rather than Birkenhead or Liscard.

"We have got to protect Wirral's retail outlets which are building up a flour-ishing Sunday trade."

Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Stuart Kelly struck the same chord. He said: "If we make the tunnels free on Sunday it would have an adverse effect on Wirral's shopping centres. At the end of the day the tunnel is a similar service to the railways and we don't want to take people off the railways when we need to encourage rail travel. There might be some benefit from the proposals in reducing congestion if a peak-hour and off-peak pricing structure was adopted."

Tory leader Cllr Jeff Green said his group was uncompromisingly in favour of tunnel tolls being scrapped and tunnel maintenance being taken over by the Highways Agency.

He said MTUA's proposals appeared to meet the criteria of reducing the impact of tunnel tolls of individuals and businesses and, as such, they were a step in the right direction.

He observed: "The way Mersey Travel have been behaving on the tolls it suggests they see the tunnels as an opportunity to raise a lot of revenue and use it for various schemes they have across Merseyside."

MTUA claims its proposed measures would stimulate commerce in Liverpool and Wirral, countering the trend for shoppers to head for out-of-town developments.