Council fines itself 82 times for infringing Clean Air Zone
Tory questions after polluting bin lorries are driven into the city centre
ATOTAL of 82 fines have been issued by Birmingham City Council to itself after fleet and waste vehicles incurred Clean Air Zone (CAZ) charges.
The Conservative group, which opposed the introduction of a charging zone to cut pollution, asked council bosses to reveal the number of penalty charge notices issued by the authority for its own vehicles since the launch on June 14.
The Conservatives revealed they had been told 82 penalty charge notices were issued in the first month of operation.
Each fine for non-payment of the CAZ charge within the 13-day payment window is £120, reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days.
The cost for the 82 fines would range from £4,920 if all were paid in 14 days to £9,840 if all were paid after the 14 days.
Cllr Robert Alden, leader of the Conservative group on the council, said: “There is only one question that residents will be asking: why should they pay Labour’s travel tax if they won’t pay it themselves?”
Shadow cabinet member for transport and environment Cllr Timothy Huxtable (Con, Hall Green South) said: “The council claimed the travel tax was all about air quality, not making money.
“If it was about pollution, they would stop driving the vehicles in the city centre. Instead they tax residents while ignoring the tax themselves”.
But Cllr John O’Shea, cabinet member for street scene and parks, said a waste fleet garage within the zone had been to blame for the embarrassment.
He said: “Our garage facility for our refuse collection vehicles is situated inside the Clean Air Zone, so all vehicles will need to go inside it from time-to-time for maintenance and safety checks.
If it was about pollution, they would stop driving the vehicles in the city centre Cllr Timothy Huxtable, Conservative
“We are currently investing in building two new depots outside the CAZ, including a new council maintenance and repair site.
“We’ve already moved a number of vehicles to depots that serve parts of the city outside the zone.
“But we are also delivering a cleaner fleet so all vehicles in the city meet the standards required inside the CAZ.
“The first tranche of new compliant vehicles have been on our streets since December 2020 and over the next few years the entire stock of wagons will be refreshed.
“When vehicles incur a CAZ charge, the council will be paying for this from the budget of the relevant service area.
“That has been something we have been clear on throughout the planning and preparation for the implementation of the zone and any suggestion we are avoiding the payment of charges when due is a blatant untruth.”
The Conservative group have alleged the two-week delay in the introduction of CAZ charges was due to the awarding of payment contracts being subject to a call-in on the day the zone was due to be launched.
But speaking at a Cabinet meeting last month, council leader Cllr Ian Ward (Lab, Shard End) said there was “no need for any cynicism” around the delay of payments.
The Clean Air Zone has been introduced as a means of tackling poor air quality said to be responsible for 900 deaths in the city per year.
The council has yet to release figures on how many vehicles have been subject to a charge or fined in the early stages of the CAZ.