Little uptake for CAZ cash help
THE number of people who applied for financial help to switch vehicles ahead of today’s introduction of the Clean Air Zone (CAZ) in Bristol was only a few thousand – even though almost 100,000 drivers will have to pay the charges that start today.
Various financial support schemes are available from Bristol City Council in a £42 million package, with loans to help people buy new vehicles. But critics of the schemes say they do not go far enough and do not provide enough support.
Over the course of three weeks in September, the council tested the cameras and systems. Drivers of non-compliant vehicles received a letter warning them that when the CAZ came into effect they would pay a charge, or be fined, if they made the same journey again.
Around 95,000 drivers received the letters. Because individual motorists received only one letter regardless of how many times they drove into the CAZ, the total number of vehicle journeys that would be affected by the CAZ is certain to be much higher.
But the council has now confirmed that up to November 14 it received only 2,107 applications for financial support for drivers wanting to change their car to one that complies with the CAZ emission levels.
It also received 2,143 applications from the owners of light goods vehicle (LGV) vans and small trucks for financial support, 130 from business owners wanting to upgrade their heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and three applications involving buses. There were also 76 applications from the drivers of taxis or Hackney cabs and 124 from the drivers of private hire vehicles.
The council was unable to confirm how many of those 4,583 applications had been successful, because the final figures from finance companies that would be loaning the money had not been completed.
Last December, Bristol mayor Marvin Rees said the council had finalised the financial packages available.
He said drivers of private cars who were residents of Bristol could be eligible for a grant of around £2,000, with an option of a top-up loan of £5,000 per vehicle. Businesses would be eligible for the same grants and loans.
Hackney cab taxi drivers get higher grants and loans– up to £4,000 as a grant and up to £9,000 as a loan to contribute towards the costs of a new vehicle.
As of November 14, the council had accepted 242 applications for a daily blue badge for disabled drivers, but rejected 45. The authority had also accepted 769 drivers’ applications for a long-term blue badge exemption, but rejected 500. The council’s CAZ team accepted two applications for an exemption for commercial vehicles with finance, and rejected one.
It received a total of 624 applications from workers on low incomes who said they had to drive through the zone and asked to be exempt. It accepted 228 of those, but rejected 396. The council accepted 28 of 30 applications for exemptions from people operating community transport schemes.
Local residents living inside the CAZ with a non-compliant vehicle have been able to ask for an exemption under certain circumstances. The council received 601 and accepted 448. It also accepted 360 of 392 applications from drivers of specialist vehicles.
However, due to the way the system works, the total number of individuals making applications for support or for exemptions could be slightly lower. In total, the council has awarded 2,077 exemptions to drivers of non-compliant vehicles for a variety of reasons.
The council’s multi-million pound CAZ scheme is also making ‘sustainable travel offers’ to people to encourage them to find alternatives to driving non-compliant vehicles. The numbers of people seeking these is comparatively low, in the hundreds or low thousands.
The council has provided 1,222 train tickets, 2,299 ‘bus taster’ tickets to use in Bristol, and another 762 to use in the West of England outside of the city boundary. It has also issued 1,064 vouchers to join car clubs, 987 vouchers to use one of the Voi e-scooters, and issued 587 ‘journey planners’.