LEGISLATION CAZ SCRAPPAGE SCHEMES REFUSE TO RULE CLASSICS OUT
Birmingham sets worrying precedent for cities chasing air quality targets
Birmingham City Council’s Clean Air Zone (CAZ) scrappage scheme is to launch with no protection for classics.
The scheme, which was announced back in March, will allow anyone who works within the A4540 Middleway Ring Road and earns less than £30,000 a year to scrap their non-compliant vehicle in exchange for £2000 off the price of a car from Motorpoint or £2000 worth of public transport credits.
While vehicles registered as historic will not be subject to the CAZ charge, Birmingham City Council said that there was no scope for any cars to be saved under the scrappage scheme.
A statement sent to CCW said: ‘The purpose of the scrappage scheme is to support people working in the Clean Air Zone and earning less than £30,000 per annum to replace a vehicle that does not meet the zone’s emission standards. If someone in this category owns a historic vehicle then it would be exempt from the daily charge but they could still be eligible to have it scrapped as part of the scheme.
‘It’s also important to note that a vehicle needs to scrapped for someone to qualify for the £2000 vehicle or travel credit, so they would need a certificate of destruction to confirm that this has taken place. Therefore these vehicles could not be made available.’
Motorpoint Birmingham and Oldbury general manager, Kevin Cartwright, said: ‘We are proud to have been given the opportunity to support the Clean Air Zone’s Scrappage and Mobility Scheme and play our part in reducing Birmingham’s nitrogen dioxide emissions.’
Motorpoint did not comment before CCW went to press when asked about classic vehicles.
A similar scheme was set up in Coventry last month. That initiative, set up by Transport for West Midlands, allows drivers to exchange older vehicles for £3000 worth of transport credits to be use on public transport, taxis or Uber vehicles.
Coventry City Council councillor and cabinet member for jobs and regeneration, Jim O’Boyle, told Classic Car Weekly: ‘Coventry is in the vanguard of new technology and environmentallyfriendly travel. We’ve got the most electric vehicle charging points per head of population anywhere in the country outside London, our buses are going electric and we are trialling an interesting tram system called very light rail.’
Coventry City Council also did not respond to CCW’s questions about protection for classic vehicles before this issue went to press.
Tom McCooey
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