The government has approved Leeds City Council’s plans to introduce a Clean Air Zone (CAZ) that will charge non-Euro VI trucks £50 per day to enter parts of the city from 6th January 2020.
It has given the council more than £29 million in funding to implement the zone and support businesses affected.
Announcing the news, the Council said that £13.8m would be made available as grants of up to £16,000 per affected HGV, subject to a ‘funding competition’.
“Around half of the UK truck fleet is currently non-compliant with the CAZ standards being adopted by Leeds, London and other cities,” said BVRLA Chief Executive, Gerry Keaney.
“With a new tractor unit costing around £80,000 and a typical rigid 18-tonne truck £40,000, many companies are going to face massive costs in upgrading their fleets, and have less than a year to do so. Smaller businesses, many of whom operate on extremely tight margins, will not be able to upgrade their fleet in time and will be hit hardest by these charges.”
The BVRLA continues to engage with Leeds and other cities across the UK to encourage them to consider all alternatives to charging Clean Air Zones and introduce robust mitigation measures if they are introduced.
You can find more details of this work and other activities the association is taking around the topic of air quality on the BVRLA website.
