3rd September 2020
Transport causes 98 per cent of the UK’s air pollution hotspots and a recent report by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs found that exposure to air pollution could also be one of the factors which leads to increased coronavirus infections and deaths.
The lockdown measures implemented to help reduce the spread of the Covid-19 virus have resulted in air pollution in our city centres now being down almost 30 per cent on pre-lockdown levels thanks to less congestion on the roads.
As we emerge from the pandemic, councils now hope that the measures to encourage walking and cycling around cities, introduced in recent weeks, may be an effective alternative to charging zones.
Clean air zones (CAZs), in which the dirtiest vehicles are deterred from urban centres by charges, were due to be implemented in Birmingham, Leeds and Bath this year, but have now been delayed at least to January 2021.
A zero-emissions zone planned for Oxford in December has also been postponed until summer 2021, while a consultation in Manchester on a clean air zone due this summer has been postponed until October.
Below are more details on the revised plans:
A class C clean air zone will see charges for most higher emission vehicles driving in the centre of Bath from early 2021 (delayed from Nov 2020).
Private cars and motorbikes will not be charged, even if they’re used for work. However, drivers of cars registered between March 2001 and January 1980 (classed PLG on a V5 form) will need to apply for an exemption to avoid charges.
The council was originally scheduled to launch a CAZ – covering all vehicle types – in January 2020 along with Leeds; both of which would have been the first CAZs in the UK after the London Ultra Low Emission Zone.
However, the schemes were initially put back until this summer due to delays with the Government’s online vehicle checker service and then postponed until 2021 due to the pandemic.
Members of Birmingham City Council’s Cabinet committee have now approved a consultation on its latest draft Air Quality Action Plan, which replaces the existing action plan launched in 2011 and sets out seven key actions points to reduce nitrogen dioxide emissions across Birmingham, as well as including a CAZ for the inner city.
Bristol City Council has also seen a significant reduction in air pollution since the outbreak of the pandemic, with the city’s latest air quality data showing that, despite an increase in traffic levels, the city centre’s pollution has remained relatively low, meaning a CAZ is no longer needed.
Bristol City Council has proposed to continue accelerating transport improvements, such as a return to improved public transport links, increased walking and cycling routes and pedestrianising areas like the Old City.
The Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone (CAZ) is to be introduced in “spring 2022” under plans that will be subject to an eight-week consultation process starting in October.
Under the proposals for a CAZ, the most polluting HGVs, buses, coaches, taxis and private hire vehicles would pay a daily charge to travel in Greater Manchester.
Non-compliant vans and minibuses would be exempt from CAZ daily charges until 2023 to give vehicle owners more time to upgrade, as would wheelchair-accessible taxis and private hire vehicles, and Greater Manchester-registered coaches.
Up to £120 million of Government funding will be made available by way of grants and contributory finance to provide support to around 30,000 affected owners and operators to replace HGVs, LGVs, taxis, private hire vehicles, coaches and minibuses.
GMCA anticipates that the CAZ will run until at least the second half of 2026. If it is shown by then that two consecutive years’ compliance with legal limits for NO2 has been achieved, and that there is confidence that compliance will continue, it will begin decommissioning work.
Leeds’ CAZ was set to come into force from 28 September but, along with similar schemes in Birmingham and Bristol, was delayed until 2021 when nationwide lockdown measures were imposed at the end of March.
But now Leeds City Council is reviewing its plans to introduce the charging zone following a reduction in the city’s air pollution levels.
The council is working closely with central government to review the long-term impact that the Covid-19 pandemic and other factors will have on the city’s air quality. If pollution levels are expected to stay below legal limits Leeds will no longer have the support of the government to introduce a charging Clean Air Zone.
The CAZ is scheduled for introduction by the end of 2021. Portsmouth City Council has reaffirmed its earlier position that such an approach is not its “preferred solution” to tackle air pollution in the affected area, but it is acting under Ministerial direction.
The CAZ will capture an area to the south west of Portsmouth. A daily charge will be payable for coaches and buses that do not meet Euro VI standards. The local authority previously suggested that the charge could be up to £100 for some vehicle classes.
The Scottish Government had committed to introduce low-emission zones into Scotland’s four biggest cities – Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee [Transport (Scotland) Bill, October 2019]. However the process was paused and plans for implementation of low-emission zones across Scotland have now been delayed from December 2020 to May 2022.
The Welsh Government launched a new Clean Air Plan on August 6th 2020, outlining measures that will be taken to improve air quality across the country.
In Wales, poor air quality is responsible for between 1,000 – 1,400 premature deaths every year.
In order to reduce this figure, the Clean Air plan identifies a range of actions that will be taken to improve air quality.
These actions include investing in active travel infrastructure, improving rail services and achieving zero tailpipe emissions from taxi and bus fleets by 2028.
The government will also investigate measures to support a reduction in personal vehicle use, such as Clean Air Zones and Low Emission Zones.
Derby, Nottingham, Southampton, and Cardiff city councils have all scrapped plans for clean air zones altogether, claiming instead that they can meet obligations to cut nitrogen dioxide levels through other means such as a traffic management systems and making public transport more eco-friendly.