Bath Clean Air Zone

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Bath Clean Air Zone
UK traffic sign S68c.svg
Bath Clean Air Zone traffic sign symbol
Location Bath
Launched15 March 2021 (2021-03-15)
Technology
Manager Bath and North East Somerset Council
Currency Pound sterling
Retailed
  • Online
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Website beta.bathnes.gov.uk/bath-clean-air-zone OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Bath Clean Air Zone is an area of central Bath, England where traffic is restricted to reduce air pollution. It became the second Clean Air Zone in the UK (after London) when it was introduced in March 2021. [1] It has been credited with helping to reduce nitrogen dioxide pollution in the city by around a quarter since 2019, and has raised over £7 million in fines. [2] [3] [4] However, critics of the scheme argue that it has displaced traffic to other parts of the city and nearby towns. [5] [6]

Contents

Implementation

The Bath Clean Air Zone covers the historic centre of Bath, extending to parts of Walcot, Bathwick, Widcombe, Beechen Cliff, Kingsmead, and the whole of the Royal Victoria Park and Botanical Gardens. [7] It is enforced 24 hours a day, every day of the year, by automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) cameras installed on roads approaching the zone. [1] Unlike zones in London and Birmingham, which charge almost all drivers of non-exempt vehicles, Bath's is designated as a Class-C Clean Air Zone according to European emission standards: only higher-emission (pre-Euro 6 diesel and pre-Euro 4 petrol) taxis, vans, buses, minibuses, and other commercial vehicles pay to enter the zone, while private cars and motorcycles are exempt, even if they are older, higher-emission vehicles. [8] Electric, hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles are also exempt. Charges range from £9 to £100 per day. [9] [10]

Road signs like this one outside Bath Spa railway station encourage waiting motorists to avoid idling inside the Clean Air Zone. "No Idling - Switch off engine" sign in the Bath Clean Air Zone.jpg
Road signs like this one outside Bath Spa railway station encourage waiting motorists to avoid idling inside the Clean Air Zone.

History

Bath is a World Heritage Site, with many tall, historic tenement buildings ranged along narrow streets. Although much of the central shopping district is pedestrianized, traffic pollution has long been an issue. [11] Citing high levels of nitrogen dioxide, a March 2017 report for the BBC Inside Out West TV news programme claimed "At times Bath's air quality is as bad as Beijing". [12]

Later in 2017, then UK government environment minister Thérèse Coffey directed Bath and North East Somerset Council to produce a clean air plan that would improve Bath's air quality in the shortest possible time; the council announced its plans for a clean air zone in October 2018. [13] [14] According to Robin Kerr of the Federation of Bath Residents' Associations (FOBRA), writing in the Bath Chronicle , the council had been "handed a golden opportunity finally to tackle Bath's transport problems... [and] air pollution... which blights the World Heritage site". [15] Other local people expressed concerns that the scheme would lead to deserted streets with harmful effects on the tourist trade. [16]

Following a six-week public consultation, [17] the council decided it was fairest to implement a scheme that would primarily target large, highly-polluting vehicles (such as commercial vehicles and buses) and exempt all ordinary, private motorists from the charge. [4] The council also announced £9.4 million of financial support, which had by 2023 helped over 1,500 people to replace 938 polluting vehicles. [4] [18] Taxi and van drivers can apply for grants of up to £4,500, while bus, coach, and HGV operators are eligible for up to £35,000 of financial support. [19]

A Euro 6, Clean Air Zone compliant bus parked outside the former Empire Hotel, inside the Bath Clean Air Zone A Clean Air Zone compliant bus parked inside the Bath Clean Air.jpg
A Euro 6, Clean Air Zone compliant bus parked outside the former Empire Hotel, inside the Bath Clean Air Zone

Originally scheduled to launch in November 2020, the Bath Clean Air Zone was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, [20] and became the first Clean Air Zone outside London when it was finally launched on 15 March 2021. [2]

Impact

In 2021, Bath and North East Somerset Council announced that nitrogen dioxide (NO2) measured at 121 sites in the city (both inside and outside the clean air zone) had fallen by an average of 22 percent. [2] [8] In 2023, Bath's Clean Air Zone became the first in the UK to pass a "State 3 assessment" by the UK government's Joint Air Quality Unit, a technical milestone that means nitrogen dioxide levels have fallen to and remained inside guideline levels. [21] There was some uncertainty over how much of this was attributable to COVID-19 restrictions and the closure of the city's historic Cleveland Bridge for maintenance. [21] Some parts of the city, including its most polluted street, Chapel Row, experienced a significant increase in NO2 in the months after the scheme opened. [6] In 2022, the Council reported an average 26 percent reduction in NO2 compared with 2019, noting that the number of polluting vehicles entering the zone had fallen by 71 percent between the scheme's inception in March 2021 and December 2022. [8]

Some 30,000–40,000 vehicles enter the Clean Air Zone each day, of which fewer than 5 percent are non-compliant; following the introduction of the scheme, some 28,000 motorists were fined in the first 100 days. [22] Efforts to collect fines from drivers were initially mixed; after the first three months, the council revealed that only two-thirds of those fined were paying promptly, within seven days. [19] Between March 2021 and December 2023, over 174,000 fines were issued to drivers who entered the zone in non-exempt vehicles, raising a total of £7,102,980. [3] According to the council, this money has been "reinvested back into Bath and North East Somerset to support further improvements to air quality and sustainable transport". [5]

Critics of the scheme have argued that it has caused an increase in traffic congestion elsewhere in the city [23] [24] and in parts of neighbouring Wiltshire, notably on the A36, A363, B3105, A361 and A350. [5] [19] [25] Wiltshire Council's research suggests the scheme, coupled with lengthy closure of the Cleveland Bridge, increased HGV traffic through Westbury by 20 percent. [25] Shortly after the Bath scheme was launched, Wiltshire Council requested air quality monitoring of Bradford-on-Avon and Westbury to assess its wider, potentially negative impacts on West Wiltshire, but the request was turned down by the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs. [26]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">London congestion charge</span> Fee for vehicles entering Central London

The London congestion charge is a fee charged on most cars and motor vehicles being driven within the Congestion Charge Zone (CCZ) in Central London between 7:00 am and 6:00 pm Monday to Friday, and between 12:00 noon and 6:00 pm Saturday and Sunday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nitrogen dioxide</span> Chemical compound with formula NO₂

Nitrogen dioxide is a chemical compound with the formula NO2. One of several nitrogen oxides, nitrogen dioxide is a reddish-brown gas. It is a paramagnetic, bent molecule with C2v point group symmetry. Industrially, NO2 is an intermediate in the synthesis of nitric acid, millions of tons of which are produced each year, primarily for the production of fertilizers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exhaust gas</span> Gases emitted as a result of fuel reactions in combustion engines

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air quality index</span> Measure of air pollution

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air pollution</span> Presence of dangerous substances in the atmosphere

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air pollution in Turkey</span> Dirty air in the Republic of Turkey

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air quality guideline</span>

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Birmingham Clean Air Zone is an area of central Birmingham, England where traffic is restricted to reduce air pollution. It became the third UK Clean Air Zone, after London and Bath, when it launched on 1 June 2021. A study of the zone’s effectiveness, published in 2023, found mixed results, with "modest, but significant reductions" in nitrogen dioxide but "no detectable impact in the concentrations of fine particles... the air pollutant with greatest health effects".

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mums for Lungs</span> British environmental organization

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References

  1. 1 2 de Prez, Matt. "Bath has launched the first charging clean air zone (CAZ) outside London, today". Fleet News. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 Bullock, Clara (24 October 2023). "Bath CAZ: Government confirms air quality has improved". BBC News. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  3. 1 2 "Bath: Clean Air Zone hands £7m to council from fines". BBC News. 27 December 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 Day, Paul (25 August 2023). "Bath's Clean Air Zone continues to be effective in improving air quality". Air Quality News. Spacehouse. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 Baker, John (1 March 2023). "Wiltshire roads 'bearing brunt' of Bath's Clean Air Zone charges". Wiltshire Times. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  6. 1 2 Sumner, Stephen (14 December 2021). "What it is like to live on Bath's most polluted street". Somerset Live. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  7. ↑ "View a map of Bath's Clean Air Zone". Bath and North East Somerset Council. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 "Bath and North East Somerset passes Government Air Quality assessment". Bath and North East Somerset Council. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  9. ↑ "Bath Clean Air Zone begins: here's everything you need to know". ITV News. 15 March 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  10. ↑ "Find out about charges in Bath's Clean Air Zone". Bath and North East Somerset Council. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  11. ↑ "Historic Bath's struggle to be both green and pleasant". The Economist. 10 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  12. ↑ "Air pollution in Bath can be "as bad as Beijing", according to a new report". Bath Chronicle. 9 March 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  13. ↑ Jacobs (January 2020). "Bath Clean Air Plan: Full Business Plan" (PDF). Bath and North East Somerset Council. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  14. ↑ Wyatt, Richard (16 October 2018). "£9 to cross Bath's Clean Air Zone". Bath Newseum. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  15. ↑ "B&NES Council has been handed a golden opportunity finally to tackle Bath's transport problems. The government has mandated B&NES to bring air pollution from nitrogen dioxide (NO2) within the legal limit in the shortest possible time". Bath Chronicle. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  16. ↑ Bowden, Paul (3 May 2018). "Ian Bell of Bath Chamber of Commerce, (Chronicle, April 26) makes a well balanced and considered approach to the complexity of air pollution in Bath". Bath Chronicle. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  17. ↑ "Cabinet to receive update on Clean Air Zone". European Union News. 19 December 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  18. ↑ "Air quality in Bath improves following introduction of clean air zone". ITV News. 24 August 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  19. 1 2 3 "Bath Clean Air Zone 'success' despite third of charges unpaid". BBC News. 23 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  20. ↑ "Bath Clean Air Zone: Charge for polluting vehicles to launch in March". BBC News. 8 October 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  21. 1 2 Wyatt, Richard (15 March 2024). "Bath's CAZ – increased traffic flow may threaten promising results". Bath Newseum. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  22. ↑ "Bath Clean Air Zone: 28,000 fines issued in 100 days". ITV News. 22 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  23. ↑ "Bath Clean Air Zone: Is it pushing traffic elsewhere?". ITV News. 22 September 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  24. ↑ "Bath Clean Air Zone leading to 'unsafe' streets, locals say". BBC News. 28 October 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  25. 1 2 "Wiltshire Council urges Bath leaders to reconsider lorry ban". BBC News. 1 May 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  26. ↑ "Bath clean air zone: Fear that traffic will increase in nearby towns". BBC News. 5 March 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
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