Yahoo News Bristol Clean Air Zone expansion an option, say Greens and Lib Dems
Two of the four main parties hoping to run Bristol City Council have refused to rule out expanding the Clean Air Zone. The Greens and the Lib Dems say an extension to the scheme is an option, although neither are currently actively planning to include more roads in it if they win the backing of voters at Thursday’s (May 2) local elections.
The Labour administration, which was required by the Government to implement the CAZ in 2022 to reduce harmful nitrogen dioxide levels to legal limits, says that once the air quality targets have been hit, the zone will have 'done its job' and can be removed. Bristol’s Tories agree and say the CAZ is creating barriers for communities and costing cash-strapped families money.
The comments came during a local elections debate about the environment on BBC Radio Bristol’s John Darvall show yesterday (April 30), where leading councillors from the four political groups clashed over how to improve the city’s public transport. There was also broad acceptance that the council would fail to hit its 2030 net zero goals.
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Cllr Heather Mack (Green, Lockleaze) said: “The CAZ was brought in because 300 people a year were dying from unclean air in Bristol. The CAZ is having an impact on emissions from cars and that is improving the health of people who live in some of the most deprived communities in central Bristol.”
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She said the Greens would aim not just for the 'bare legal minimum' of improving air quality to set limits but would continue to monitor the data to decide the zone’s future. Asked by the host whether this meant the party might extend the CAZ, Cllr Mack said: “I’m not ruling out expanding it or not expanding it – neither is on the cards right now.
“We’ve only got one year’s worth of data. These sorts of decisions take years of looking at data to come to. It’s not in our manifesto, it’s not something we’re immediately planning to do.”
Cllr Andrew Brown (Lib Dem, Hengrove & Whitchurch Park) said extending the CAZ 'cannot be excluded at this point'. He said: “We know it’s a measure that the Government has been using with local authorities across the country to improve air quality.
“This is a measure that is projected to raise over £82million in the city and that should be spent on improvements that get people away from reliance on cars and onto buses, but it’s not – it’s been used to plug a gap. We’ve been stitched up by the previous [Labour] administration.
“That money has been used for the stuff that we would have already been spending on anyway.” Labour mayor Marvin Rees ’s final annual budget included using money from CAZ fines and charges, which totalled £31million as of January, on road repairs and subsidising loss-making bus services.
Cllr Mack said these projects would have been happening anyway and that CAZ income was additional cash that was supposed to go on active and sustainable travel. Labour cabinet member for housing services and energy Cllr Kye Dudd said the council was required to spend the money on transport and had done that.
He said: “The CAZ is here to stay until we get legally compliant air, which we’re on track to do in the next couple of years. It’s a very blunt instrument but we supported it to deliver that compliance.
“As soon as it delivers that compliance, it has done its job and we have no plans to expand it. It has been an unexpected windfall for us to invest in transport and we need to take advantage of the opportunity while it’s there for the next few years.”
Conservative group leader Cllr Mark Weston said: “As soon as we’re legally compliant, the CAZ should come off. It’s creating barriers to communities trying to access work, families and everything else.
“We had roads like the Portway that were not even over the legal limit but were included. There is a cost to families who suddenly had to pay out to get a new car which they couldn’t really afford.
“People are accessing the BRI and paying a Clean Air charge when they’re trying to get medical care. The exemption for that runs out at the end of June and then they will have to start paying for that.”
On public transport, Cllr Mack said: “We’re one of the UK’s 11 Core Cities and it’s an embarrassment that we are not connected, we cannot get people around. We’ve heard plans for an underground, sadly we’ve heard a lot about how unfeasible that is.
“That is 20 years away and we need a solution much quicker than that, and the solution needs to be really investing in buses. Where buses exist, the frequency and reliability is not there.”
She said more bus lanes were needed to help services run on time and that these could be funded by a workplace parking levy. Cllr Weston said: “We wasted money on an underground, it was never going to happen.
“I’m a passionate believer in rail and maximising our rail systems. When we talk about our suburban railway, that is the best non-road-based form of mass transit we can get.
“We then need to look at how we can improve our bus service and that doesn’t just mean getting people into the city centre, we need to make sure those radial routes are connected. If you want to get from Henbury to Avonmouth it’s virtually impossible.
“It’s about embracing all those forms of transport – don’t just put bus lanes in where they’re going to just artificially create congestion.” Cllr Dudd said: “In the short to medium term, buses are the answer and we need to invest in more bus priority measures, so more bus lanes but also look at integrated ticketing which is a power the West of England Combined Authority (Weca) has.
“We could introduce that to so you could use tickets across all the operators. We also need to look at the ownership model of buses.
“Bristol Labour plans to work with the next Labour government to look at owning a bus company in Bristol so our buses would be under public ownership. Long term we need to look at a mass transit system for Bristol.
“All the feasibility reports Weca has done say it’s possible, economical and feasible, and that may include some lines that are underground.” Cllr Weston said: “We had the council trying to run an energy company, which cost millions and was a complete waste of time and money, do you really want them trying to run a transport company? I’m sceptical.”
Cllr Brown said bus franchising was the answer but that Weca was choosing not to introduce that. Cllr Dudd said franchising was better than the current system but was 'suboptimal' because it guaranteed a private company’s profits.
On net zero targets, Cllr Weston said: “We are not going to make 2030 at all. We need to accept that reality. We should do what we can, we should decarbonise the council’s housing stock and its fleet but as a city we’re not going to do it.”
Cllr Dudd said: “There is a possibility to meet the 2030 target around energy. The target was always an ambitious one – there are over 200,000 buildings in the city and to get to net zero by 2030 we would need the equivalent of 96,000 heat pumps, 68,000 connections to the district heating system, 73,000 insulation upgrades, we would need to electrify all the 124,000 vehicles in the city, reduce mileage by 40 per cent and maximise the solar potential which is 350 megawatts.
“All of that would cost at least £5billion.” Cllr Mack said: “Locally, Labour has focused on energy but there’s a whole load of other work that hasn’t happened.
“We’ve been demanding full carbon reports for all projects, especially on projects such as house building. We’re not getting that information, we’re not basing all of our decisions in the council on the carbon impacts of those projects.
“You said we need a 40 per cent reduction in car journeys, yet you're saying you will take the CAZ away.” Cllr Brown said: “It’s going to be difficult to meet that 2030 target but it’s important that we have that ambition and aim to do all we can.” The debate can be heard here.
