Calls to scrap planned Clean Air charges in Bradford are defeated

During an at times heated debate during a meeting of Bradford Council on Tuesday, local Tories said the planned charges, which will come in when the city’s Clean Air Zone is introduced in January, could damage business in the city and hit taxi drivers, shop owners and small businesses.

But the leading Labour group hit back by claiming the Conservative Government had forced the Council’s hand.

And leader Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe compared the opposition party to King Canute when it came to dealing with the District’s pollution problem.

The Clean Air Zone will see the most polluting commercial vehicles, including HGVs, buses and taxis that do not meet certain emission standards, charged a daily fee to enter the city centre, the Canal Road Corridor and parts of Shipley.

It will not impact private cars.

Government grants worth millions of pounds will be provided to owners of such vehicles to help them upgrade to cleaner engines.

It is being introduced after a ministerial order to the Council issued by Government in 2018, which called for the authority to reduce Bradford’s illegal levels of harmful air pollution by the end of 2022.

Bradford Council calls on Government for Clean Air Zone discount for taxis

The proposals have been criticised, particularly by the District’s taxi drivers.

The Council recently announced it would be asking Government to allow them to reduce the daily charge for non-compliant taxis from £12.50 to £7.

Councillor Debbie Davies (Cons, Baildon) put forward a motion at the full Council meeting on Tuesday urging the Council to amend the Clean Air Zone to a non-charging zone, where people could get grants up upgrade their vehicles but would face no penalty if they continued to drive more polluting vehicles.

She said around 80 per cent of HGVs were already compliant, and argued that traffic levels were unlikely to rise to pre pandemic levels any time soon.

She also said new cycle lanes would lead to more people cycling to work, and the rise in popularity of electric cars were all reasons the Clean Air Zone plans should be reconsidered.

Presenting her motion Cllr Davies said: “It is unwise to bring in a charging Clean Air Zone that could push air quality problems elsewhere, lead to people making longer journeys and damage Bradford’s economy.

“The introduction of charging will lead to damaging and unintended consequences. it will lead to freight operators moving out of Bradford, or taking different routes, harming our smaller villages and towns.

“Operators may choose not to deliver to Bradford to avoid the cost.

Survey highlights taxi drivers' opposition to Clean Air Zone plan

“It will act as a disincentive for businesses to locate here or expand their businesses.”

She disputed the claim by the Labour group that the Government had ordered the Council to introduce a charging part of the CAZ.

Councillor Martin Love (Green, Shipley) criticised the Tory motion and Labour’s request to reduce charges for non-compliant taxis, saying the parties were engaged in a “race to the bottom to placate one sector of the District’s economy because they are making noise.”

He added: “They should be standing up for the District’s children.”

Councillor Allun Griffiths (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley) described the Tories charge free Clean Air Zone proposal as being “all carrot and no stick”

In response to the motion Councillor Hinchcliffe referred to the tale of King Canute the Great, who tried to show his power by ordering the tide not to encroach on his land.

She said: “I feel the Conservative motion is like King Canute sitting on his throne speaking to the tide and saying ‘you are subject to me, I commend you not to rise.’

“We all know that he got very wet feet. The Conservative group seem to be trying to say no to the rising tide.”

Responding to the claim that it was the Council’s choice to have a charge in the Clean Air Zone, she said: “Perhaps I speak too much in riddles, perhaps I am too indistinct - let me outline clearly once and for all that this is not a choice for us.

“The Government hasn’t said ‘would you like a Clean Air Zone?'

“They have seen out pollution data and concluded that it is intolerable and not within legal limits and has commanded us by legal order to bring in a Clean Air Zone. There is no way the Government would allow a non charging Clean Air Zone.”

The Conservative motion was ultimately defeated, replaced with a Labour amendment that repeated the call to allow the taxi and private hire charge to be reduced to £7 a day and for Environment Minister Rebecca Pow, to visit Bradford district once the restrictions ease to talk to councillors of all parties about the directive for the Clean Air Zone.”

Cllr Davies questioned why, if the Council wanted to reduce emissions, plans for an incinerator in Keighley had been approved in 2017.

Cllr Hinchcliffe pointed out that the decision was made by a planning committee made up of three different political parties, not by the Labour group.