Katie Searles speaks to three local authorities who have altered, halted, or shelved plans to introduce some form of charging clean air zone, to discover what the biggest challenges are when it comes to improving city air quality…
In 2018, the high court ruled that the UK government’s then-current policy on air pollution was unlawful after it heard that, eight years after the UK was found to be in breach of legal limits, levels were still too hight in 37 out of 43 local authority areas across the country. The landmark judgement has meant that clean air in the UK is now overseen by the courts rather than ministers and the courts have powers to pass judgment on whether the government’s actions meet its obligations on air pollution under UK law.
Following the wholly exceptional ruling, councils across the UK were made to submit air quality improvement plans to address transport-related pollution, including nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter. Many of the proposals included a clean air zone (CAZ) – an area that charges or penalises highly polluting vehicles based on their Euro emission standard. Vehicles with higher emissions are either unable to enter the designated area, or in some zones, they must pay an additional charge to enter.
To date, only four CAZs have gone live – Bath, Birmingham, Portsmouth, and York, with Oxford introducing the UK’s first Zero Emission Zone in February 2022 and London expanding the Ultra-Low Emission Zone in October 2021. Considerably more cities – 18 in total – have either delayed, opposed, or announced that CAZs are no longer required.
Here, mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees; Jim O’Boyle, cabinet member for jobs, regeneration and climate change at Coventry City Council, and councillor Helen Hayden, executive member for infrastructure and climate at Leeds City Council, discuss what shape, if any, a CAZ in their city will take; the major factors that led to postponements; and reveal what air quality improvement alternatives are being introduced.
Why has your city yet to launch a CAZ? Jim O’Boyle: The UK government has been found guilty of not being compliant with its own air quality obligations and commitments. It then decided that 22 towns and cities around the country needed to do the job for them and introduce a CAZ. This would have meant that we charge vehicles of a certain polluting type, normally pre-2016 rich diesel engines that emit nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Instead, we put forward a package of alternative measures that still bring down NO2 levels, such as moving traffic from one place to another, removing traffic lights, improving junctions where there are pinch points and introducing segregated cycle lanes.
Helen Hayden: Leeds’ planned charging CAZ was discontinued following a joint review of air quality undertaken by the city council, UK government and independent experts. The review concluded that air pollution in Leeds on key routes had fallen below the legal limits and was not likely to exceed them again. Since plans for a CAZ were originally confirmed, local businesses likely to be impacted by it have switched to less-polluting vehicles faster than would otherwise have been expected and drivers are switching to plug-in vehicles faster than many other cities. We’ve also delivered significant city centre highways improvements that prioritise cleaner public transport as well as active travel. Plus, we have seen many community initiatives, such as the School Streets and anti-idling campaigns, succeed.
Marvin Rees: Plans for the city’s CAZ were approved in March 2021 with a launch date of October. However, Bristol City Council delayed the introduction until late summer 2022. We are tackling two major challenges – climate and inequality. While the CAZ will help us meet the legal standards for air quality as set out by the government, it won’t help with the myriad of complex issues that make up a city or help us solve a transport system that has been under invested in for decades. We are therefore committed to getting the CAZ in place, while working on creating a fairer, greener city for all with a mass transit system that services everyone.
Has enough funding been made available to help residents and businesses switch to CAZ-compliant vehicles? JB: In Coventry we know have higher than the average number of people owning vehicles that would be considered polluting, because 15 years ago people were encouraged to buy diesel cars. Nobody knew at that time that all oxide and particulates would be an issue going forward. We have also found that Coventry has a higher-than-average number of electric cars in private fleets, which is why it has got more EV chargepoints than any other county, other than London. It’s why we’re encouraging the take up and why Coventry is the location of the UK battery industrialisation centre, a nationally owned facility to develop the batteries of the future. But you can’t just tell people to go electric because they’re quite expensive. And though second-hand EV market prices will eventually come down, the government could do more.
MR: We have always said we don’t want a CAZ to detrimentally impact the finances of those on low incomes or businesses that have already had a difficult two years. That’s why we have worked hard to get the best deal for Bristol, which includes £42m for people to get cleaner vehicles. We have also increased the limit for those deemed on a low income from £24,000 to £26,000. This will rise to £27,000 in spring 2022, so more people are eligible for this funding.
Covid-19 has changed not only how people travel through cities, but it has also put a strain on council resources and on businesses. How has the pandemic affected transport in your city?
JB: Interestingly, because of the pandemic there could be an opportunity for other forms of transport to help reduce air pollution, such as e-scooters, autonomous and connected vehicle trials and sharing services. The technology is there. It’s about giving people alternatives to private vehicles. It’s about adaptation in the new world, with our focus much more on clean air and improving our climate, which we all need to do.
HH: Because of issues with government systems required to enable the zone to be monitored and enforced, both Leeds and Birmingham had jointly delayed the launch of their planned charging CAZ in 2019. Having worked through many of these concerns, Leeds City Council intended to formally recommend a new launch date in March 2020. However, this recommendation ultimately did not go ahead due to the impact of the pandemic. Our executive board decided not to confirm the new launch date so that any impacts of the pandemic on the delivery timetable could first be understood and managed. The primary reason for the zone’s discontinuation – improvements to the city’s fleet – was unrelated to lockdowns, yet it is possible that the review that ultimately led to our change in policy would not have taken place had there been no pandemic.
MR: Whilst we want to improve air quality as quickly as possible, we also have many citizens and businesses facing financial crisis due to the economic effects of the pandemic. We have had a high level of interest from individuals and businesses in our £42m financial support package. But you don’t need to buy a brand-new electric car, which are unaffordable for most people – it could be as simple as going to your local second-hand dealer and upgrading your 2003 car for a 2006 one. The global computer chip shortage is also causing delays of up to nine months on the delivery of some new cars and vans. New vehicle costs are continuing to rise and further pressure will be placed on vehicle manufacturers as rising energy costs will need to be passed onto the consumer.
Other than a CAZ, what measures could be implemented to help reduce air pollution to legal levels in your city?
JB: Making public transport as accessible as possible. In other words, going where people want to go, rather than a bus route that makes money but is a longer route. That puts people off from using the service. Those things must be considered. That is why we’ve done a lot of work on Very Light Rail – we’re working on having a demonstration route in the next two years in Coventry city centre.
HH: Although our plans to introduce a CAZ have been discontinued, our ambition and action to improve the city’s air quality has not. Air pollution at key locations in Leeds has been reduced to levels below the legal limits, however we recognise that there are no ‘safe’ levels. Leeds City Council approved an ambitious new air quality strategy in 2021 that leads the way in its ambition and scope – setting stricter targets than national standards and aiming to tackle emissions from homes, industry, and agriculture as well as transport.
MR: We have always argued that a CAZ is just one tool to achieve cleaner air and that investment in sustainable transport is a key element needed not just to achieve compliance with legal standards but to reduce pollution, carbon emissions and congestion. Other measures we are taking to improve air quality include improvements to sustainable transport, the introduction of liveable neighbourhoods that make it easier to catch a bus, walk or cycle, and pedestrianisation of local high streets, all of which create areas that are free from congestion and pollution. We also have ambitious plans for a mass transit public transport system running on over and underground lines, which will revolutionise how we travel and significantly improve congestion and air quality. What’s more, we are investing in electric vehicle chargepoints to enable people who need to use a car to switch not just to a cleaner combustion engine but to go fully electric.
Immediate impact
Bristol’s neighbouring city Bath introduced its own clean air zone (CAZ) in March 2021 and has since reported improved air quality in both the city centre and areas outside the zone. Data reviewed by Bath and North East Somerset Council reveals that nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels dropped by more than 14% compared with the same quarter in 2019. The council chose to discount 2020 levels due to the effect Covid-19 had on traffic levels, and therefore air quality measurements.
The report also highlights that the number of chargeable non-compliant vehicles entering the zone since its launch has decreased, with the percentage of compliant vehicles in the chargeable categories – (taxis, vans, LGVs, buses, coaches, and HGVs – increasing by an average of 49% over the same period.
According to the council, the data indicates that the CAZ is having the intended effect of improving fleet compliance and changing behaviours. All but three of the 220 buses that operate on scheduled routes in the zone and more than 90% of HGVs and 90% of taxis travelling into the zone are now compliant with emission standards.
The report confirms that more than 1,000 non-compliant vehicles have so far been approved for the council’s financial assistance scheme, in addition to businesses and individuals upgrading vehicles using their own resources. Furthermore, 591 vehicles have been replaced with cleaner, compliant ones, and hundreds more are due to be replaced in the coming months. As a result, the number of chargeable, non-compliant vehicles seen in the zone has fallen.
Cllr Sarah Warren, deputy leader and cabinet member for climate and sustainable travel, Bath and North East Somerset Council, says: “Our target is to reduce annual average concentrations of NO2 to below 40μg/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter of air) at every location where we measure NO2 in Bath, as soon as possible.
“Our quarterly reports suggest that there are still a few areas that are a cause for concern, so we ask that everyone pulls together to limit their use of vehicles where viable alternatives exist, such as using park and rides, walking, using an electric bike or scooter or car sharing.”
This article was originally published in the March 2022 issue of CiTTi Magazine, click here to read the original.
