Bradford Clean Air Zone approved
The most polluting HGVs, buses, vans and taxis will be charged up to £50 to enter the zone.
Last updated 2nd Mar 2021
Bradford's Clean Air Zone has been approved - meaning some of the most polluting vehicles will face a £50 bill to enter the city centre.
The changes will come in from next year.
The £50 charge will affect the most polluting HGVs and buses.
Vans would face a £9 charge, while taxi drivers will pay £12.50.
Most private cars will be exempt from the charge.
The zone takes in much of the area within the city’s inner ring road and the Shipley/Bradford corridor.
A fund of over £30 million will be set up to provide grants for the owners of such vehicles to either convert to electric or switch to less polluting engines.
Last year, Leeds Council scrapped a similar plan to introduce clean air charging after the Covid lockdown led to air pollution levels naturally declining.
But at the Executive meeting this morning, members were told that traffic in Bradford had was already at similar levels to pre-lockdown.
Recent data had shown that pollution levels on Mayo Avenue were above the legal limit, despite the national “stay at home” order being in place for over two months.
In 2018 the Government issued a Ministerial Order to Bradford Council to reduce the District’s illegal levels of pollution as soon as possible.
This led to the development of the Clean Air Zone, which will use ANPR cameras to monitor commercial vehicles entering the city that don’t meet certain engine standards – which will vary for different vehicles types.
At the meeting Andrew Whittles, who helped draw up the plan, said other cities were planning to draw up clean air zones, with Bath, Birmingham, Newcastle, Manchester and Liverpool all likely to introduce such measures in the coming years.
He added: “It is a scheme that will likely soon apply to most major cities in the UK."
He told members that over £39 million had been granted to Bradford by the Department for Transport and Defra to help implement the zone, and £31m of this was to provide grants to help upgrade vehicles.