Birmingham City Council is pushing ahead with plans to start its charging Clean Air Zone from 1 June 2021 and has started to install ANPR cameras to police it.
The scheme received approval in late 2020 to go live next summer and will follow the 15 March 2021 start date for the Bath CAZ; the two are the first charging Clean Air Zones outside London’s ULEZ scheme.
However, while the ‘Class C’ CAZ in Bath won’t charge private cars, the ‘Class D’ scheme in Birmingham runs across the board.
The Birmingham scheme was due to start in January 2020 but was put back, initially due to delays from the Government side but later because of coronavirus.
However, it’s now on schedule to go live on 1 June 2021 and will cover all the major routes within the Middleway Ring Road (but not the Middleway itself).
Extensive system testing and trials programme are now underway and a total of 67 ANPR cameras from Siemens Mobility have been installed at locations across the city. These will identify and register every vehicle that enters the CAZ; 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It is anticipated that the system will capture details of around 200,000 vehicles per day, a small percentage of which are expected to be non-compliant with the scheme.
Councillor Waseem Zaffar from Birmingham City Council said: “Birmingham remains committed to launching the Government mandated Clean Air Zone on 1 June 2021. Poor air quality remains a public health risk and a Clean Air Zone provides the city with an effective tool for tackling this issue in the shortest possible time.”
Fleets and drivers can check their vehicles to see if they’ll be charged within the Birmingham CAZ using the Government’s central CAZ service.
Those affected are urged to visit the council’s website at https://www.brumbreathes.co.uk/ for a list of local exemptions and whether they might be eligible for financial support to upgrade their vehicle or fleet.
