Newcastle City Council has called on the UK government to support residents to retrofit their vehicles ahead of the new clean air zone (CAZ).
Newcastle’s CAZ, which is scheduled to go live in July 2022, will cover most of the city centre and the routes between Gateshead and Newcastle on the Tyne, Redheugh, Swing, and High-Level bridges.
Those who drive an older taxi, van, bus, coach, or HGV that does not meet emission requirements will have to pay a charge to enter the zone.
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The council has asked the government for £23m to pay for grants that would help toward the cost of upgrading vehicles so that CAZ charges can be avoided.
However, the council is still awaiting feedback from the government. As soon as it finds out how much funding will be available it will let residents know via a new newsletter.
The council also said that there may be temporary exemptions to cover vehicles where there are arrangements in place for them to be upgraded or where a vehicle may be subject to a finance agreement that is due to expire within a certain time limit.
Newcastle City Council is the second local authority this week to publicly urge the government for more CAZ funding after Greater Manchester Combined Authority said it was reviewing its planned CAZ following a lack of additional financial support.
