Excessive traffic must be addressed

Your correspondent Paul Bowden attributes to me the idea of a low emission zone in Bath. Although it is an excellent idea to improve the chronic air quality in Bath, and it was one of the recommendations from the Bath Transport Strategy approved in 2014 on a cross-party basis by the council, the emergence of the proposals now is as a consequence of Government requiring action of local authorities which have bad air quality, rather than, I suspect, the work of the former Bath Transport Commission, of which I was the chair. For many, many people the zone would mean no change and no charge - you’d need a petrol car 14 years old, or older, to be charged by the time it would commence, and a diesel 5 years or older; as was discovered in London, even people with those do not have to spend a fortune, just upgrade to a second hand vehicle sufficiently younger to avoid the charge; or, even better, switch to public transport. Bowden deliberately confuses this charge designed to improve Bath’s air quality with congestion charging; whilst one hopes that it might reduce congestion slightly, that would really be achieved only by a real congestion charge, which this is not. If it were, central Bath would become much nicer to be in and shop in, and the council would raise serious money to improve public transport and the public realm, as has happened in London - several hundred millions over 15 years now. The real threat to the centre of our city and its retail is not just rotten air quality, but the unpleasant nature of excessive traffic and congestion. Sir Peter Hendy CBE Widcombe