Final chance to comment on a clean air charging zone for Leeds

The statutory consultation on the proposed clean air charging zone in Leeds will launch later this month.

The council has been directed by the government to provide a full business case by 15 September 2018 which addresses the city’s proposals to ensure it becomes compliant with air quality standards in the shortest possible time.

At a meeting of Leeds City Council’s executive board next week (Wednesday 27 June), members will be asked to approve entering into a period of statutory public consultation on both the clean air charging zone, the enforcement of anti-idling, the citywide clean air strategy and proposed changes to licensing conditions for taxis and private hire vehicles.

After receiving almost 9,000 responses to the first phase of consultation around draft plans for the city, the council has now revised plans after listening to the trades affected and the public, to include the following main areas;

• A new, smaller boundary area – having listened to feedback from businesses across the city we have revised the charging zone area so as to lessen the economic impact on businesses but at the same time ensuring we retain the benefits of improved air quality areas across the city.

• Changes to daily charges - a revised tariff for buses has been included in the latest proposals, after feedback from the initial consultation suggested a charge of £100 was too high. At this time the council is proposing a charge for buses, coaches and HGVS of £50 a day and a charge of £12.50 a day for taxi and private hire vehicles, with a reduced weekly rate available for Leeds licensed drivers who choose to purchase this in advance.

• A review of licensing conditions for the taxi and private hire trade in Leeds – a number of proposals and changes will be looked at including some ‘sunset periods’ for drivers that have recently bought new Euro 6 Vehicles and support and finance packages available to help assist the trade in the move to petrol hybrid and electric vehicles.

• The ambitions for the city after 2020 – the public and businesses will be asked about what they believe the council should be doing post 2020 to address air pollution in the city. Whether this means car free days in the city, a low emission zone in the city centre or other innovative ideas.

  The council also has a number of big asks for the government which form a vital part of delivery of the preferred scheme. Providing the right support packages for the trades affected is a high priority, and will help ensure the success of the scheme without adversely affecting local businesses in the city. Therefore the council are asking for support to accredit HGV retrofits and help smaller companies finance the change, along with a national register of private hire and taxis to ensure all relevant vehicles entering the zone are charged proportionately, as well as support for Leeds taxi and private hire driver to upgrade to hybrid and electric vehicles. On a national level, the council are pushing for a nationwide policy on intercity charging that would see vehicles only charged once per day regardless of the number of Clean Air Zones that were entered.

  Those wanting to have their say on revised proposals will be able to view the documents and consultation questionnaire at www.leeds.gov.uk/airqualityconsultation from 28 June 2018. The consultation will run for six weeks and close on 12 August 2018. The latest proposals comply with specific criteria from the government which states the city needs to achieve statutory compliance with air quality legislation and the scheme is delivered in the shortest possible time.

  Councillor James Lewis, Leeds City Council executive board member for resources and sustainability said;

  “Ensuring we reduce pollution levels across the whole city is a real priority for the council and something we are working hard to achieve. As much as the clean air charging zone forms a key part of our preferred scheme – ensuring all our communities are able to breath clean air is the end goal.

  “We will be entering into a statutory consultation at the end of June (subject to approval by the executive board) and will be asking for feedback on our preferred scheme for a Clean Air Charging Zone and the clean air strategy for the whole city – including what our ambitions should or could look like after 2020.

  “We had a fantastic response to the consultation earlier this year and would like to encourage even more people to have their final say on this crucial piece of work for the city

  “The feedback we received in the first part of the consultation has been vital in helping us further shape the direction for the business case – including re-looking at lower charges for buses, and a smaller boundary.

  “As part of ensuring we submit a business case that works for the whole city, we are currently engaging with those trades and organisations that will be directly affected by the implementation of a charging zone in Leeds.

  “These meetings are vital for us to better understand the support that businesses who operate in the city need to make the move to become ‘compliant’ under the clean air charging zone stipulations.

  “Making sure we ask for the right support from the government at this stage will allow us to better prepare and offer support and guidance to businesses through these new changes.

  A number of measures to address public transport and connectivity in the city have already been announced as part of Connecting Leeds, the ambition to transform transport and travel in Leeds. Recently £4.1 million from the government’s Clean Bus Technology Fund (CBTF) has been awarded to enable retrofit to 231 buses running on key routes in Leeds including those with air quality concerns. As part of First Leeds’ commitment to invest £71million to provide 284 new state-of-the-art buses for its Leeds fleet by the end of 2020, with a number of these having already entered service. Two park and ride sites have been delivered and are proving very successful in the south and east of the city.

  For more information and detail about the clean air strategy and clean air charging zone for Leeds visit www.leeds.gov.uk  - the papers will be live on the afternoon of 19 June 2018.

  Ends

Notes to editors:

See below for key intiatives and projects within the city, all contrinuting towards improving air quality.

• Leading the way in transitioning th council's fleet of vehicles to ultra-low or zero emissions vehicles. Currently, Leeds City Council (LCC) has more low emissions vehicles than any other local authority in England. The council has already committed to procure a further two hundred electric vans by 2020, bringing its total electric fleet to circa 300 as well as ensuring its whole fleet is CAZ compliant or better, even those vehicles not within the CAZ categories.

• Developing Compressed Natural Gas infrastructure for the city which will enable our own fleet (including refuse vehicles) to switch to CNG as well as helping commercial fleet operators to do the same.

• Operator First West Yorkshire has pledged to invest £71m to provide 284 new state-of-the-art buses for its Leeds fleet by the end of 2020 as part of the new strategy, supporting the aim of improving air quality across the city. They have just introduced the first double decker electric bus as a trial in the city.

• Geo- fencing trial – LCC is part of project ACCRA that will assess the operational ability of hybrid vehicles to automatically switch to zero emission mode when they are in an area of poor air quality. The project includes fitting LCC EV’s with air quality monitors so that we can develop a greater level of details of pollution along our roads and develop the mechanism for this to be fed into on-board computers that will use this data to automatically shift to zero emission mode when required.The results of the programme will be published shortly.

• The council are looking to improve the visibility of air quality information in the city and informing anybody travelling by vehicles in Leeds how they can reduce their own emissions by putting no idling

• Signs at schools and car share signs along busy road routes. Variable road signage will be utilised to show air quality levels and promote the use of alternative modes of transport. We are working with businesses to improve the level of car sharing in West Yorkshire. The scheme will also look to incentivise the modal shift away from the private car.

• Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Points - We are providing public electric vehicle fast chargers located at council sites such as parks and leisure centres with some rapid chargers for on-street parking in the city centre. We will also be extending our ULEV free parking scheme for another two years to March 2020.

• Scoot to school - A package of measures, including training, scooter storage and educational materials will be to 30 schools that have been targeted due to the high number of children travelling to school by car.

• Business engagement - This scheme is focused on increasing the uptake of electric vehicles with businesses by supporting businesses in their business case development and allowing them access to longer vehicle trials. We will provide extra grants to support business with a suitable charge infrastructure and signpost them to any existing funding schemes.

• Taxi and private hire electric leasing scheme - There is low uptake of electric vehicles in the Taxi/Pirate Hire (T/PH) sector so we are providing the opportunity to trial vehicles to demonstrate the advantages of using them.