Air quality improvement projects including new e-bike schemes and Oxford’s Zero Emission Zone are being springboarded under latest government grant funding.
A total of £11.6m has been awarded by Defra under the Air Quality Grant allocation for 2022; more than double last year’s funding and enabling councils to develop and implement measures to benefit businesses, schools and communities and cut the air pollution risks to health.
This year’s grants include £970,700 to Oxfordshire City Council, which will be used to expand its Zero Emissions Zone in the Oxford city area, following on from the newly launched pilot scheme.
Meanwhile, the Westminster City’s Council Cross River Partnership – in collaboration with a number of London boroughs and the Port of London Authority – has secured £1m to deliver its Clean Air Logistics for London (CALL) project.
This scheme will move more freight into London via river rather than road, supported by a network of highly visible zero-emission delivery methods across the Central London area, including electric vehicles, cargo bikes and walking freight.
E-bikes are also a focus for the DEFRA funding awards; Gloucestershire County Council has been given £40k for the development of an e-bike company that will operate a small fleet of bikes and electric vehicles out of a warehouse near the centre of Cheltenham to act as delivery depot. And Colchester Borough Council has been granted around £188k to develop an e-cargo bike delivery service accessed through a bespoke booking app so shoppers and visitors to Colchester town centre can book deliveries to their homes within a five-mile radius or a nearby smart locker.
Local authority work to promote anti-idling and more efficient driving practices have also received awards.
And the grant funding includes £1m+ for projects that will deliver measures to improve public awareness in local communities about the risks of air pollution, following a recommendation in the Coroner’s Prevention of Future Deaths report after the death of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah in 2013.
The Air Quality Grant scheme helps local authorities to make air quality improvements and to meet their statutory duties under the Environment Act 1995. It has awarded more than £81m in funding to a variety of projects since it started in 1997.
The Government is taking further action to cut air pollution through the Environment Act, which requires two new targets to be set to reduce the level of fine particulate matter in the air. A public consultation on these targets will be held shortly.
Agri-innovation and Climate Adaptation Minister Jo Churchill said: “The projects supported by this latest round of funding include innovative local schemes to boost the use of green transport, increase monitoring of fine particulate matter – the most harmful pollutant to human health – and improve awareness of the risks of poor air quality around schools and in care homes.
“Local authorities are best placed to find solutions to the issues they face in their areas, and we will continue to work closely with them and offer support to help deliver real change in cleaning up our air.”
