Leeds City Council has a published a consultation plan for a category B clean air zone in the city centre.
The plans, scheduled to come into effect in 2020, would require HGVs to be Euro 6 compliant in order to enter all roads within the outer ring road or pay a £100 charge. A charging system similar to that of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone has been suggested by Leeds City Council but the exact details of the charging scheme are yet to be decided. A category B zone applies to HGVs, buses and coaches as well as smaller vehicles such as taxis and private hire vehicles, but does not apply to cars and vans.
The proposals have been drawn up in response to government initiatives to reduce pollution in a number of areas, with Leeds council being one of 28 local authorities where measures are required to improve air quality.
Councillor Lucinda Yeadon, Leeds City Council executive board member said, “In Leeds, ensuring that we improve air quality and therefore the lives of all the people living and working in the city is a real priority for us. To ensure we hit our air quality targets, we will need significant support from the government. A wide variety of actions will need to be taken, and for this we will need greater investment in alternative modes of transport and infrastructure to support the growth of alternative fuelled vehicles.”
The consultation will run throughout January 2018, and the council will supply the government with an assessment of what central support will be necessary in order to manage vehicles that do not currently meet the new proposed standards. Leeds has already implemented low emissions initiatives, including its own fleet of low- or zero-emission vehicles, currently the largest of any local authority in England, and developing its own CNG infrastructure.
