Driver of polluting vehicles could be charged to enter ultra-low emission zone in Cambridge
Motorists with polluting vehicles could be charged £5 a day to drive into a new ultra-low emission zone for Cambridge.
The Greater Cambridge Partnership is drawing up proposals for how to improve air quality in the city, and envisages uses proceeds from such a scheme to encourage the uptake of cleaner vehicles.
The ideas were put forward in a paper for the GCP’s joint assembly in the week the government unveiled its 10-point plan for a “green industrial revolution”.
Among the highlights of the government’s plan were a move to bring forward the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by a decade from 2040 to 2030, although the sale of some hybrid vehicles will be allowed until 2035.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced £1.3billion to accelerate the rollout of chargepoints in homes, streets and on motorways to make electric vehicles easier to charge up, and £582million in grants for those buying zero or ultra-low emission vehicles to help reduce the costs.
The GCP wants to tackle emissions and reduce congestion through a “phased approach”, beginning with its investment in sustainable public transport, such as the segregated busways proposed around the city, and the introduction of better cycle routes, notably the ‘greenways’ that will connect Cambridge to a host of villages.
The next stage would be a ‘class C’ clean air zone (CAZ) to ban older commercial vehicles that are not compliant with emissions standards. Any breach would be penalised by a penalty charge, operating around the clock, seven days a week.
A report to the joint assembly notes: “Emergency vehicles and those providing disabled access would be exempt. The CAZ zone would lie within, but not include, Cambridge’s inner ring road.”
The next stage would involve “reallocation of road space to create more space for walking and cycling provision, improved public realm, as well as bus priority measures where possible”.
On and off-street parking would be reduced and modal filters introduced to reroute cars, just as they have been as part of emergency measures taken during the Covid-19 crisis to promote socially-distanced cycling and walking.
“More substantial measures to reallocate road space on key routes and in the city centre would follow, once GCP infrastructure improvements started coming on stream offering alternatives to car travel,” said the report.
A further stage would involve “investment in the roll-out of electric car clubs, moving the bus fleet towards zero emission, in the electric charge point network and potentially a scrappage scheme for the most polluting vehicles”.
Once public transport improvements are in place, an ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ) would be introduced covering the city within the bounds of the Park & Ride sites.
“The ULEZ would see all vehicles not meeting certain emission standards charged to drive within the zone – these standards could increase over time,” said a report.
Although it is too early for the details to be known, technical analysis has been carried out assuming a round-the-clock charge of £5 a day, with exemptions considered for emergency vehicles and blue badge holders.
“The proceeds of the ULEZ could be used to fund moving commercial and private vehicles to zero emission, as well as supporting uptake of sustainable travel,” said the report.
Another option would involve focusing on bus network improvements, such as increasing frequency and subsidising fares, but without introducing charges for other vehicles.
There was concern at the assembly meeting, however, that more progress has not been made.
Cllr Tim Bick, leader of the Liberal Democrats on the city council, told the joint assembly: “I seem to have looked at three types of packages set on top of each other, with some pros and some cons for each of them, at meetings for years now, and I think it’s really a little bit disappointing, if not a lot disappointing, that we haven’t got further than this.”
He added: “The way I read the way the public is at the moment, is that they are ready for bold action, they have seen huge change in their highway space over this last year, and desperately don’t want to return to how it was. I think it’s a great pity that we haven’t got a picture to paint for them already for the world that they might be returning to”.
He added: “We need to be allowed to get to it, I think we are sort of fighting shy of the basic questions here, we are making a meal out of short-term measures, some of which are brilliant, actually, but in the end always fighting shy of getting to the big decisions”.
Peter Blake, the GCP’s transport director, said: “We are in extremely exceptional times.”
He noted that the pandemic was impacting the way people are moving around the city, which affected the gathering of evidence needed to progress such schemes, but said officers had listened to the comments made.
Additional reporting: Ben Hatton, Local Democracy Reporter
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