THOUSANDS JOIN CALL TO SCRAP CITY CLEAN AIR ZONE

ALMOST 10,000 people have now signed a petition calling on the government to scrap a proposed Clean Air Zone (CAZ) in Coventry.

A 548 signature paper petition was handed over to Coventry City Council this week by campaigners.

Added to other petition signatures raised, the total tally is now just short of 10,000, former MP and councillor Dave Nellist said.

Mr Nellist said the figure would have been higher but the council website which hosts the online petition has been down for three weeks.

He said: “We are very disappointed that the website has been down for three weeks. It is a democratic deficitto have an opportunity to comment but it is denied due to a technical failure.

“We could have had much more than 10,000 already had it been up.

“The amount we have collected so far is a significant figure as it means we are two third towards our initial target which leads to a full public debate in the council.”

The government ordered a CAZ in Coventry in March as the city is one of 22 UK towns and cities where nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels are forecast to exceed legal limits by next year.

An ‘indicative’ location of a CAZ encapsulates around 80,000 residents, 52,000 employees and 3,610 small businesses.

Non-compliant vehicles could be charged between £8-12.50 to enter and the scheme, would would cost around £55m, could bring in between £130-£200m before being decommissioned in 2028.

Coventry council is against such a measure and submitted revised plans in June which it believes would reduce NO2 without the need for a charging zone.

Mr Nellist’s petition has called for free public transport and environmentally friendly powered vehicles to solve the clean air problem.

The campaigner, who leads the city’s Socialist Party, added: “It is going to take a big modal shift from private cars into clean public transport and we are delaying that decision by going down what the Tory government think is an easy route.

“If buses and trams were delivered through clean energy, if we could get a quarter or half of drivers on to public transport, that would be the biggest reduction in NO2, CO2 and particulates.

“It is the number of vehicles we have to reduce, not punish the people with cars which are not new or clean enough.”