Liverpool City Council is considering options for a charging Clean Air Zone (CAZ) in the city.
The council has been instructed by government to produce a clean air plan, which will detail how air quality can be improved within the shortest possible time. As part of this, the city is required to look at whether a charging CAZ scheme could work for the city.
At present, the council is working to develop an air quality plan across the city that does not include a CAZ, but it is required to look at the options of how one may work. A Clean Air Zone is defined as 'a targeted measure to improve air quality resulting from pollution from vehicles and a measure to reduce Nitrogen Dioxide emissions which are harmful to human health.'
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The council is currently looking at four types of charging Clean Air Zones, which are categorised from Class A to D in terms of severity. If a charging zone were to be introduced, non-compliant vehicles would be charged unless exempt - and additional measures would be examined to further improve air quality in the city and support non-compliant vehicle owners.
A Class A CAZ would affect buses, coaches, taxis and private hire vehicles, while Class B would add heavy goods vehicles to this list and class C would also add vans and minibuses. A Class D zone, the strictest, would include all cars as well and have the option to include motorcycles.
Over the past two months, local taxi drivers and businesses across the Liverpool City Region have been approached for their comments on Clean Air Proposals - and with a week to go, there’s still time for feedback. The respective surveys for both groups can be found here and here.
What do you think of the idea of a charging Clean Air Zone in Liverpool? Tell us in the comments
Council leaders stressed that at this stage they have not identified a potential charging zone in the city that would have the requisite impact on tackling air pollution, without major risks to the city's economic recovery. But it is clear that all options must be considered at this stage.
The city council's cabinet member for Climate Change and Environment, Cllr Dan Barrington said: “Liverpool’s transport priorities are changing, and the Council is committed to providing better active travel and public transportation in the city and the wider city region. Climate change is part of the mayoral ‘triple lock’ for decision making – but concerns of cost, impact and effectiveness of any charging CAZ also need to be considered. To date the council has modelled various charging CAZ options with varying success, however, no charging boundary has been identified that would see a significant enough impact on air quality, without high risks to the city’s economic recovery.”
Strategic Director for City Development Director, Mark Bousfield said: “Liverpool has spent the last two years developing and refining proposals to make sure we understand the problems and find the best solution for the city, businesses and residents. Residents and stakeholders have expressed strong views, both in the city and across the wider city region. We do still however need feedback from taxi drivers and businesses in the city and city region to understand the impact a charging CAZ would make to them.”
