Ideas to go to Government

THE controversial plans for new clean air tolls on Tyneside have taken a major step forward.

Council bosses in Newcastle, Gateshead, and North Tyneside unveiled their plans to end the area’s air pollution “catastrophe” last week – either via a toll on three bridges across the Tyne, or a wider charging zone that would hit only highpolluting vehicles.

The Government’s preferred solution is a clean air zone (CAZ) in which the worst polluters would face daily charges of up to £50.

But the three authorities claim that would disproportionately penalise poorer communities and small businesses, leading them to suggest a toll on the Tyne, Redheugh, and Swing bridges as an alternative.

Such a toll would affect all vehicles apart from buses and taxis, with suggested fees of £1.70 for cars and £3.40 for lorries.

Leaders at the three councils agreed at meetings on Monday evening and Tuesday morning to finally submit their initial findings to the Government – almost two months after ministers’ deadline was missed – ahead of launching a public consultation next month.

A final decision in which charging measures will be implemented – as well as other efforts to cut emissions, such as banning buses and taxis from parts of the city centre – should be made this summer, with the new system operational by January 2021.

Coun Arlene Ainsley, Newcastle City Council’s cabinet member for transport and air quality, said that the CAZ “doesn’t seem like the right solution” and that a toll would be “more equitable”.

She told a cabinet meeting on Monday: “No decision has been made. This is a broad consultation for people and businesses to let us know their thoughts.

“It is not easy to decide to charge people for just going about their daily life, but the important thing is that we must clean up air quality. To do nothing is not an option.”

Council leader Nick Forbes added that the authorities had been “railroaded” down a certain path by the Government and that a CAZ “seems to be an utterly nonsensical approach”.

Lib Dem opposition councillor Greg Stone called on the council to share its predictions of which routes could become ‘rat runs’ as drivers try to escape the proposed tolls.

In Gateshead on Tuesday morning, Coun John McElroy said residents will be “rightly concerned” about the impact the charges will have.

Labour council leader Martin Gannon warned that air quality is a “major public health catastrophe” linked to almost 400 deaths on Tyneside every year.

He added that the councils had no choice but to comply with the Government’s directive and were risking ministers’ wrath even by carrying out a public consultation, rather than just pushing ahead.