Your say / Clean Air Zone
‘The Clean Air Zone is likely to be poorly implemented and beset with problems’
For four years, Bristol Green Party has been calling for the Clean Air Zone (CAZ). It will save lives! It will also clean up our air, help us hit our climate targets and potentially make our city centre less congested. For four years, Bristol Green Party has said the CAZ D was the best choice.
But for four years, the Labour mayor has ducked and dived to avoid making our city a better place. Endless consultations followed by crazy ideas of banning diesel cars or simply hoping the problem will go away has meant we have only arrived at the CAZ D at the 11th hour (the law states it must be rolled out by October).
The mayor’s inability to make a decision for the benefit of people and the environment means this last minute decision is likely to be poorly implemented and beset with problems. Other authorities have been planning their schemes for years.
is needed now More than ever
Firstly, if the decision had been made four years ago, countless lives could have been saved and Bristol would already have clean air that met the legal limits. We would be taking big strides towards our carbon targets and tackling climate change.
Secondly, by making a decision so late, the mayor leaves businesses and drivers scurrying to upgrade their vehicles or looking at unnecessary costs in the short term. If he had taken this decision several years ago, businesses and car drivers could have planned for the changes they will need to make.
Non-compliant vehicles will be charged to enter the CAZ from the end of October. Image: Bristol City Council
Thirdly, there is a real danger that parts of the city surrounding the CAZ will become unofficial park and rides, with neighbourhoods overrun by parked commuter cars, despoiling their air and clogging up their streets.
The Residents Parking Zones (RPZs) – so despised by the Labour mayor, but now supported by residents – are the answer. But significant parts of the city surrounding the CAZ are not covered by RPZs: Ashton Gate, Windmill Hill, and Barton Hill all risk becoming car parks for out-of-town commuters.
A better planned decision made in good time would have allowed RPZs to have been rolled out around the CAZ.
And finally, where is the investment in the alternatives to driving? Ultimately, clean air will only really come when public transport, cycling and walking are easier and cheaper. If the mayor really wants to make Bristol a more equal and greener city, then the CAZ must come with investments in the alternative.
So we will finally get cleaner air. This is a good thing, but the Labour mayor’s prevarication and unwillingness to make a decision will mean the CAZ will cause unnecessary problems for some time to come.
Sandy Hore-Ruthven is the Bristol mayoral candidate for the Green Party
Main photo: Jon Craig
Read more: Details of Bristol’s Clean Air Zone finally confirmed
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