Government to get £2 from each Bradford pollution fine

The government will take £2 from every fine given to drivers in Bradford's Clean Air Zone (CAZ), councillors have been told.

The CAZ covers the city centre and part of Shipley and starts on 26 September.

Drivers of HGVs and buses breaching pollution limits will pay £50, while vans and minibuses will be charged £9 and taxis £7.

Bradford Council was ordered by the government to implement a CAZ to achieve targets for air quality.

The scheme was originally due to start in spring this year, but was delayed to allow further testing of the monitoring system.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a meeting of councillors heard several areas of Bradford are exceeding the legal pollution limit levels for Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) which are set at 40 µg/m3.

Figures show that last year NO2 levels were 48.8 on Queens Road, 45.3 in Market Street in the city centre and 50.6 on Shipley Airedale Road.

The committee was told that the council had been given £41m by Government to help implement the CAZ, with much of this money going on grants for businesses to upgrade their vehicles.

Andrew Whittles, the Clean Air Project manager, told the meeting that: "Taxi drivers could apply for £3,500."

"That has led to 92% of all private hire drivers in the district now being compliant. That means we have the cleanest taxi fleet anywhere in the UK," he said.

"The feedback from drivers that have upgraded their vehicles is that they are now saving around 30% to 40% on fuel, and are spending much less on maintenance of their vehicle."

He said the authority had looked at other options including introducing electric buses and park and rides but "nothing would reduce levels fast enough".

Money the council collects from fines will be ringfenced to be used for environmental improvements, including providing further grants to upgrade vehicles or providing infrastructure such as electric vehicle charging points.

Mr Whittles said the CAZ scheme in Bradford would create 70 jobs. The reduction in air pollution would also reduce hospital admissions from breathing difficulties by 10%.

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