Clean air zone scrapped as city no longer needs it

SIGNIFICANT REDUCTIONS IN POLLUTION MEANS PLAN TO CHARGE SOME TAXIS AND BUSES IS AXED

A CLEAN air zone plan for Leicester city centre has been scrapped because air quality has “significantly increased”.

If the zone had gone ahead, Leicester City Council would have charged the most polluting taxis £8 per day and buses £50 per day to enter the inner ring road.

The vehicles would not have been charged if they met the required Euro 6 or better emissions levels.

To be Euro 6 compliant, a diesel vehicle cannot emit more than 80mg/km of nitrogen oxides gases, while a petrol vehicle can emit no more than 60mg/km.

Virtually every new car sold since September 2015 has had to meet the Euro 6 standard and many cars were compliant before that.

Under the city council plan, grants would have been made available for owners of older taxis, such as Hackney carriages, to replace them with newer and greener alternatives.

However, the clean air zone has officially been scrapped because, the council says, huge improvements in Leicester’s air quality have already been made since the plan was announced.

Originally, the zone was suggested to make Leicester compliant with EU nitrogen levels in the shortest amount of time.

But the council says that due to the Air Quality Action Plan in 2015, the city has seen a significant increase in air quality.

The action plan is a committment by the city council to significantly reduce air pollution to a level lower than it is required to achieve by law.

Running from 2015 to 2026, the plan sets out 16 actions under four themes: reducing transport emissions; promoting sustainable transport; improving traffic management; and enhancing planning and the environment.

Specific aims include increasing the number of people cycling daily, reducing emissions from the council’s fleet operations by half by 2025 and for planning decisions to minimise the need for travel by polluting vehicles.

Air quality is constantly measured in the city with monitors spread across Leicester, and the council says the changes already put in place under the plan have reduced pollution to a level at which the clean air zone plan is no longer needed.

In recent years, one main focus has been reducing emissions from council houses in the city.

The authority has announced plans for council houses to be built at Saffron Lane which give off 70 per cent less carbon, as well as setting up a programme to remove 580 tonnes of carbon from council houses by installing energy-saving measures.

The city council has also received £24 million towards cutting carbon emissions from public buildings such as schools, leisure centres and libraries.

It is estimated that the energy efficiency improvements will cut the emission of 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year – the equivalent average annual emissions produced by over 900 homes or 1,600 cars.

A city council spokesperson said: “In 2018, along with several other local authorities, we were directed by the government to develop a plan that would make Leicester compliant with EU nitrogen dioxide levels in the shortest possible time.

“At the time, the government favoured a clean air zone as the most effective way of doing this.

“However, since the implementation of our Air Quality Action Plan in Leicester in 2015, there have been huge improvements in our air quality. Because of the improvements we have made, government are now unlikely to fund the development of a clean air zone.

“Air quality improvements are measured in numerous ways, including through an extensive network of over 50 monitors spread throughout the city.

“We are currently meeting with government to finalise our plans to further improve air quality in Leicester, which we will be submitting to them in the next few weeks.

“We also have an agreement with bus companies so that the city’s buses meet or exceed Euro 6 - the highest standard for NO2 emissions in diesel engines – and we are electrifying our park and ride bus fleet.”