Bristol Clean Air Zone update July 2022

Bristol Clean Air Zone to start charging older and more polluting vehicles on 28 November.

Bristol City Council’s Clean Air Zone will start operating on Monday 28 November 2022.

This is a major step on our journey to creating a healthier city – the zone and support measures will help us reduce harmful pollution and achieve our ambitious environmental targets.

Support
The council is making sure that people can prepare for the zone with £42 million of funding to help people on low incomes and Bristol businesses. We’ve received over 3,800 applications for financial support. Our advisors have processed most of the applications from our priority groups. Our finance partners will be contacting eligible applicants from August to guide them through the next stage of the process by putting them in touch with approved dealerships.

The council website has more information about the zone and how to access financial support: https://www.bristol.gov.uk/streets-travel/bristol-caz

Exemptions
Two thirds of vehicles are already able to travel in the zone free of charge, but we know some people need a bit longer to make adaptations. There is an exemption available until July 2023 for those that are successful in applying for financial support and have yet to receive their new vehicle.
In addition, we’ve asked Government to extend other temporary exemptions from the charge which will be available to:

• Residents in the zone
• people working within the zone and earning less than £27,000 a year
• Blue Badge holders
• patients attending hospitals in the zone

Applications for these temporary exemptions will open in September.

Active travel offers
The council also has £5.9 million to help people try different ways of travelling, including free bus tickets, free bike/eBike trials, VOI scooter credit, cycle training and personalised travel planning. These travel offers are open to everyone that lives or works in Bristol. Go to the council website to find out more and register: https://www.bristol.gov.uk/streetstravel/get-free-active-travel-support

Short delay The city was on track to introduce the Clean Air Zone in late summer, but a government change to national traffic enforcement regulations came into effect on 31 May, which meant work programmes for the zone have had to be adjusted to accommodate the extra work to meet the new government legislation.

The change affected the whole traffic enforcement sector, including suppliers, councils and parking providers nationwide.

This meant all resources for suppliers in this industry were diverted to making sure IT systems were capable of handling the old and new legislation ready for 31 May.

The city remains on track to meet government targets for air pollution in 2023. The short delay gives residents and businesses time to take advantage of the support to upgrade to cleaner vehicles or change the way they travel.

Test cameras for the zone were installed in June and the remaining cameras and signs for the zone will go up in July and August.

Clean Air Zones work
Charging clean air zones and low emission zones have a key role in getting the dirtiest vehicles off the streets of our towns and cities. London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone shows they work with a 44 per cent reduction in nitrogen oxide levels seen since 2019.

Birmingham recently reported that their zone has seen the average rate of compliance for all vehicles increase from 79.8 per cent at launch in June 2021 to 88.8 per cent at the end of December 2021: https://www.brumbreathes.co.uk/news/article/94/clean-air-zone-interimprovides-evidence-of-impact-on-air-pollution

Charges
71 per cent of car journeys already meet the zone’s emission standards and won’t be charged. This percentage will increase as more people switch to a cleaner vehicle, get financial support from the council to upgrade their vehicle or switch to a different mode of transport.

The zone is also expected to improve air quality on most roads surrounding it due to the knock-on benefits of people switching to cleaner vehicles across the whole network.

Use the government online checker to see if your vehicle meets the zone’s emission charges: https://www.gov.uk/clean-air-zones