Fears over efforts to stop staff using cars

CONCERNS have been raised about controversial proposals to get Bristol City Council’s 6,000 employees to stop using cars.

Bosses are consulting staff, managers and trade unions on proposals to encourage much of the workforce to switch to public transport and active travel to help meet 2030 carbon targets and reduce the annual £500,000 taxpayer bill for mileage expenses.

But owning a car is a requirement for many City Hall jobs, yet over a quarter of employees’ private vehicles are not compliant with the forthcoming Clean Air Zone, a council meeting heard.

Head of HR Mark Williams told the human resources committee that proposed reforms to the authority’s staff travel policy included not reimbursing daily CAZ charges for these older, more polluting vehicles from either day one or 12 months after the zone is introduced next summer, unless there were exceptional circumstances.

Labour group leader Cllr Steve Pearce said: “I have some concerns. We want to avoid hurting the people who can least afford it and avoid hurting the people who have been doing essential jobs.

“We are clearly requiring staff to undertake a significant expense at a time when they may not be able to and when the cost of living is going up substantially, as it will be this winter.”

Green group leader Cllr Paula O’Rourke told the meeting: “These are challenging aspirations and targets and it will be difficult to transition but it’s what we need to do.

“My understanding is that if you have a non-compliant vehicle, you probably haven’t just bought it for a lot of money quite recently. It’s quite an old vehicle.”

Councillors were told trade unions feared the changes, first proposed in July, could lead to “hardship”, make the authority a less attractive place to work and that it was not feasible to travel long distances by bike or spend hours on buses.

Green councillor Lorraine Francis said there were many barriers to making cars the last option.

“We do not have a CAZ or adequate buses to enable people to get around the city without jumping into cars. That is not embedded into the infrastructure at the moment. As a longstanding social worker, we have been battered over the last 30 years having to buy and maintain our own cars. It is impossible to do our jobs without a car.”

Committee chairman Green Cllr Tim Wye said: “We should unequivocally say it’s great the council is tackling this issue and it can give a template to other organisations in the city, but the devil is in the detail.”