Birmingham clean air charges approved

Drivers of high-polluting vehicles will have to pay to drive around parts of Birmingham after the government approved plans for a Clean Air Zone.

The city council was given a final warning by the European Commission in 2017 to clean up its air by 2020 and could be fined £60m if it fails.

Motorists in petrol cars built before 2006 and diesels before 2015 will have to pay £8 under the proposals.

The chargeable area is within the A4540 ring road, but not the road itself.

Analysis by the local authority found air pollution was responsible for shortening the lives of about 900 people a year.

The authority was granted £38m from the Clean Air Fund towards mitigation costs, although it wanted £50m, and £14.2m despite wanting £17.8m to go towards implementation costs, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Up to £15m will go towards supporting Hackney Carriage and private hire drivers who argue the zone is a threat to their livelihood.

Councillor Waseem Zaffar said getting more than three-quarters of the money asked for was "substantial".

Mr Zaffar, the council's transport and environment lead, said the authority would also try to address the potential problem of people "dumping" their cars near the edge of the zone and walking into the city.

Vehicles entering inside the ring road will be picked up by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras.

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