City’s pollution tax plans ‘don’t go far enough’
Campaigners say cars must be included
CONTENTIOUS PLANS to introduce congestion charges in a Yorkshire city to tackle air pollution have been criticised for not being far-reaching enough or including restrictions on cars and vans.
Leeds City Council is proposing to charge the most polluting buses and lorries £100 a day and taxis £12.50 a day to travel in a Clean Air Zone covering all roads within the Leeds outer ring road.
Members of the council’s executive board are due to vote on Wednesday next week on plans to send the Clean Air Zone proposals out for an eight-week public consultation from January.
The council needs to lower the city’s road emissions after it was named as one of 29 local authorities whose roads breached legal pollution levels.
However, officials from the Friends of the Earth said air pollution is responsible for 350 early deaths each year in Leeds, which is one of dozens of UK towns and cities across the country with illegally high levels of air pollution.
Friends of the Earth campaigner in Yorkshire Simon Bowens said: “Residents will continue to breathe illegally polluted air for longer because Leeds City Council has failed to take the bold and vital step of restricting polluting cars from the heart of the city.”
And the Green Party in Leeds has labelled the council’s new proposals
Chris Bell, the party’s policy officer in the city, said: “These plans do not go far enough to lower the impact of air pollution on the health of Leeds citizens.” as “woefully inadequate”.
The Liberal Democrat group’s environment spokesman in Leeds, Coun Jonathan Bentley, added: “If the council hadn’t dithered on the issue for years business could have had ample time to change investment plans to prepare for the charge.
“As it is firms only have two years to be ready to meet the criteria.”
Buses, coaches and HGVs that enter the proposed Clean Air Zone area would have to be classed as Euro6 standard – which covers all vehicles produced from September 2015 onwards. Leeds City Council is still consulting on whether to propose that taxis must be Euro6 or ultralow-emission vehicles – a more efficient standard.
Certain classes of vehicle would be exempt from the Clean Air Zone charges, including wheelchair-accessible taxis.
Neil Evans, the council’s director of resources and housing, said the proposals mean buses, taxis and HGVs that are pre-2015 would be hit with a significant charge.
He added: “Taxis and private hire will be most affected so we’re looking for a big package to support them to move to hybrid and electric, which would improve the air quality.”
Rachel Harsthorne, the founder of Healthy Air Leeds, welcomed the plans for a Clean Air Zone, but said: “We are concerned that these measures will not encourage people to leave their own polluting cars at home because of the lack of reliable, affordable public transport options.” FOR THE last 500 years, it has provided the very essence of spectacular Christmas celebrations.
And alongside traditional festive decorations including a 15ft tree, a new addition has been brought in to a stately home to give visitors a taste of Christmas past.
Crafted from leftover parts from previous displays, a festive workshop has been created in Temple Newsam House in Leeds by technician Kevin Blenkinsop and will be manned by volunteers at the weekend.
Mr Blenkinsop, who works on exhibitions at museums and galleries in Leeds, has spent the past month putting together the new creation using items from the 500-year-old house, including old shelves and lighting fixtures.
Leeds City Council’s member for museums and galleries Brian Selby said: “Temple Newsam has hosted centuries of Christmas celebrations and it’s incredible to think that families are still marking the festive season in the very same surrounding as those who did so 500 years ago.”