Bradford Clean Air Zone to start in January 2022

Drivers of the worst-polluting lorries, vans and taxis will face Clean Air Zone charges in Bradford.

HGVs and buses which breach pollution limits will be charged £50 to enter the city centre from January.

Taxis would be charged £12.50, while a fee of £9 could be levied on light goods vehicles, such as minibuses.

Councillors voted for the measure, which does not apply to private vehicles, in a bid to tackle the district's illegal pollution levels.

ANPR cameras will monitor commercial vehicles entering an area within the city's inner ring road and the Shipley/Bradford corridor.

Those that fail to meet certain engine standards will be charged.

A fund of more than £30m will be set up to provide grants for the owners of such vehicles to either convert to electric or switch to less polluting engines.

Bradford Council's executive was told traffic in the city was already at similar levels to those pre-lockdown, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A report showed the authority has been given £39.3m of government funding to implement the scheme and help vehicle owners switch to greener models.

Bradford council leader Susan Hinchcliffe said: "We need to get this [Clean Air Zone] sorted so we can safeguard the health of our children and support our businesses to upgrade and get better vehicles."

Sarah Ferriby, the council's executive portfolio holder for healthy people and places, said: "This will not only have a significant health impact on people resident in the district, it will also have a long-term impact on those children yet to be born."

Conservative councillor Debbie Davies said she had done her own research into emissions levels in Bradford, and had found "a majority of coaches and buses and about 80% of HGVs" were already compliant.

"It is taxis and vans that are the vehicles most likely to be affected," she said.

After the meeting, campaigner James Craig, of Clean Air Bradford, said: "We are really pleased to see that Bradford Council is introducing the Clean Air Zone and are putting the health of the people of Bradford first.

"However, we are concerned that the council is also planning road widening and road building in the district which will result in yet more traffic going through our communities, bring more air pollution with it."

In 2018 the government issued a Ministerial Order to the council to take action to cut levels of pollution.

Last year, Leeds Council scrapped a similar plan to introduce clean air charging after the Covid lockdown led to air pollution levels naturally declining.

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