Numbers of polluting vehicles drops after first year of Clean Air Zone in city
A scheme brought in to improve the air quality of a city centre has seen a fall in polluting vehicles.
The air quality in central Birmingham has improved since the Clean Air Zone was implemented a year ago and has seen a significant fall in the percentage of most polluting vehicles entering the city centre
Figures show the most polluting vehicles have fallen from 18.7 per cent on June 1, 2021 to 9.2 per cent in April 2022 and has contributed to an overall reduction in the levels of nitrogen dioxide by 13 per cent in the first six months of the scheme.
The Clean Air Zone (CAZ) aims to change driver behaviour by applying a daily charge to the most polluting vehicles coming into the city centre.
The scheme also provides some short-term and permanent exemptions from the daily charge alongside a number of financial incentives to help support this change.
Nearly 1 in 10 or nine per cent of all vehicles that enter the CAZ are vans, of which 79 per cent meet the emissions standard, but this rate of compliance is below average compared to other commercial vehicles such as buses and HGVs
To help boost compliance further, SMEs based in the West Midlands who use LGVs in their fleet may be able to apply for grants of up to £4,000 per vehicle to help fund upgraded or replacement vehicles.
For more information about the Clean Air Zone, please visit the website BrumBreathes.co.uk
