Southampton City Council has announced that it no longer plans to introduce a charging Clean Air Zone following indications that measures put in place over the last three years are set to reduce pollution to within EU legal limits by 2020.
A total of £15 million worth of investment has been spent by the council on air improvement projects in recent years resulting in a 24% reduction of nitrogen dioxide in the most polluted areas, without having a charging zone in place.
The council has published its Proposed Business Case which includes further measures to ensure that air quality legal limits are achieved ahead of 2020.
This includes:
- Port: Preferential charging of the port HGV booking scheme
- HGVs: Opportunities for businesses to assess and trial freight consolidation, reducing HGV trips into the city, and an accreditation scheme for HGV operators for businesses to identify the least polluting operators
- Buses: Introducing a traffic regulation condition to ensure all buses meet the highest emission standard
- Taxis: Revising taxi licensing conditions to remove the most polluting vehicles, expanding the existing low emission taxi scheme, and offering a three month ‘try before you buy scheme’ for operators
Last year the BVRLA released an air quality factsheet, recommending that Clean Air Zones should only be used where absolutely necessary.
The association therefore is pleased Southampton City Council has been able to sufficiently reduce pollution without the need for a CAZ, which can be disruptive to local businesses and people.
Southampton City Council will consider the Proposed Business Case at a Special Cabinet meeting on the 22 January, before the final business case is submitted to Government by the 31 January. Further information about the plans and Proposed Business Case is available on the Southampton City Council website.
