Newcastle Clean Air Zone tolls set for delay until 2023

Councillors have backed plans to delay tolls on high-polluting vehicles coming into Newcastle until next year.

The city's Clean Air Zone is now due to come into force in the city centre in November.

But drivers of vehicles not complying with environmental standards will be issued with warnings for a few months rather than charged under proposals agreed by council chiefs.

The toll postponement will need government approval.

The zone will cover most of Newcastle city centre, including the Tyne, Swing, High Level and Redheugh bridges.

All private cars will be exempt from the tolls, but older and more polluting lorries, buses and coaches will have to pay £50 per day.

Taxis and vans falling foul of air quality regulations will also be charged £12.50 a day to try to cut roadside emissions and the number of deaths linked to pollution, the council said.

Newcastle and Gateshead councils have both now agreed to hold off imposing the tolls until 30 January with a further postponement for LGV drivers until 17 July due to a national shortage of vehicles and rising costs making it harder for drivers to upgrade to cleaner models.

Charges had been due to start this month having already been delayed from January 2021, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

However, there have been concerns about the impact of imposing daily fees at a time when residents and businesses are struggling with the cost of living crisis.

Councillor Jane Byrne, Newcastle City Council's cabinet member responsible for transport and pollution, said the delay to the tolls showed the clean air zone was about complying with environmental rules rather than making money from drivers.

Newcastle Liberal Democrat opposition leader Nick Cott criticised the plan for being watered down over the years and said it "just hasn't been ambitious enough".

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