Following a consultation by Defra, Clean Air Zones will be introduced in Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Derby and Southampton by 2020.
However the plans will not limit car usage. In Birmingham and Leeds, the Clean Air Zone will cover HGVs, light goods vehicles, buses, coaches and taxis, while in Southampton, Nottingham and Derby only HGVs, buses, coaches and taxis will be included.
Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said: “Our Clean Air Zones are targeted on the largest vehicles, whilst not affecting car owners and minimising the impact on business
“We want to ensure people can continue to drive into city centres and by targeting action at the most polluting coaches, taxis, buses and lorries we will encourage the use of cleaner vehicles.”
The move to exempt passenger cars whilst covering commercial vehicles has been called into question by the Freight Transport Authority (FTA) which says that it is disappointed that freight is shouldering the burden of air quality improvements. It added that for diesel vans, the Euro 6 requirement does not come into force until September 2016. Therefore a large number of operators will have substantially pre-Euro 6 van fleets in 2020 – especially those who utilise second-hand vehicles.
The announcement has also been criticised by environmental lawyers at ClientEarth, which has been battling with the UK government over air quality and says the latest plan is not stringent enough.
ClientEarth’s air quality lawyer, Alan Andrews, said: “In April, the Supreme Court ordered the government to come up with a plan to achieve legal pollution limits as soon as possible. The Government's latest plan for clean air zones doesn't tackle all pollution from passenger cars one of the biggest sources of poor air quality, and fails to take action in dozens of other cities where people are breathing illegal levels of pollution.”
He added: “The Government seem to think that the health of people in cities like Glasgow, Manchester and Bristol is less important than that of people in London. While London gets a clean air zone covering all vehicles, Birmingham gets a second class zone and Derby and Southampton third class, while other areas including Manchester and Liverpool are left out. We all have the same right to breathe clean air.”
The lawyers said they will take the Government back to the High Court early next year to “force the Government to take faster action to achieve legal pollution limits”.
