The Bradford clean air zone (CAZ) covers the area inside, and including, the Bradford outer ring road. It also extends out along the Aire valley corridor (Manningham Lane/Bradford Road and Canal Road area) to include Shipley and Saltaire.
Image credits @ Bradford council
Diesel HGVs and LGVs, whose emission category is lower than Euro 6 have to pay a daily £50 charge to enter the zone. However, petrol vans are free to go from the Euro 4 category. Vans with a lower emission category have to pay a £9 daily charge to enter the zone.
At the moment, the council doesn’t offer an HGV upgrade programme, but van operators can apply for the LGV Upgrade Programme Grant of £4,500 for retrofit, replacement or re-fuel, or for the Electric Vehicle Running Costs Programme, which grants up to £4,500 paid in 2 instalments for ongoing running costs of an electric vehicle.
The Road Haulage Association isn’t happy about the introduction of the CAZ.
“Now is not the time for Bradford to be piling on the charges during a cost-of-living crisis. When pollution levels from HGVs and coaches have fallen significantly since 2013, it is disappointing that the Council are pushing ahead with outdated plans that target the wrong vehicles. We will lobby the new Government for better ways to achieve the clean air we all want,” commented RHA Managing Director Richard Smith.
The RHA added that it thinks the fairest way to meet legal air quality limits as quickly as possible is to target the oldest, most polluting vehicles across all types (cars, vans, HGVs and buses), with policy measures focused on retiring the small number of vehicles generating the largest amounts of pollution.